Deutschland über alles

I have to admit, I was afraid I might be overreaching a bit when I speculated that the heart of The Regime – i.e., the overarching political and financial power that dominates the West (as opposed to Russia, China, and the “Third World”) -- was not in the United States but in Europe. After all, didn't “we” win World War II, and bail out Western Europe? And yet I felt that they never really lost their grip on world finance – and that it's been getting tighter ever since. But if “Europe” was the answer, the question remained as to precisely where – England? Germany? Switzerland? Belgium? Well, now it seems we have an answer – or at least the beginning of one. All of a sudden, like a bolt out of the blue, we are seeing headlines like this: “German takeover of New York Stock Exchange seen next week.” Yes, I'll admit it – when I first saw this I thought it was a gag. Is it April 1 already? Or maybe an “Onion” spoof? But no, it really does look like – and please, let's not have any of those idiots on the SEC say they “saw it coming” -- Germany, or a German firm, will soon have a majority interest in the umbrella organization that includes the Exchange. Which seems a bit like – oh, I don't know – selling Mount Rushmore to Japan... or leasing the redwood forests to Korea for lumber harvesting... or turning the Gulf of Mexico over to British Petroleum. (Oops!) It seems, in other words, vaguely un-American... more so even than selling Treasury notes to China, or letting Mexican truckers run amok on our Interstate highways... or using foreign case law as the basis for federal court decisions. I mean... isn't it still true that, as Calvin Coolidge said, the business of America is business? And to think that the iconic shrine of American business will soon be ringing with the sounds of Bavarian oompah-band music. Well, maybe the traders will be allowed to drink beer on the job – that would certainly be an improvement over the three-martini lunch.

But not to worry! According to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it's a perfectly fine idea, because “it's going to give us access to Europe, and the Europeans access to the United States...” Wow, more than they have now? (And people call Glenn Beck paranoid when he warns about us being merged into a world economy.) Bloomberg also says that “merging the iconic New York Stock Exchange with Germany's Deutsche Boerse will force European companies to switch to using U.S. accounting rules which have superior disclosures.” Superior to what? The Cosa Nostra? It was the very lack of disclosure that helped to aggravate the effects of the economic meltdown – and, in fact, probably helped precipitate it in the first place. But, Bloomberg had to admit that “U.S. rules did not prevent Bernard Madoff from swindling billions of dollars through a Ponzi scheme.” Precisely. And what makes him think that this merger won't lead to even bigger and better Ponzi schemes – with the loot all winging its way to Europe instead of, at least, staying in the country? The point is that the people who make the rules are the same ones who do the stealing; it's like hiring a burglar to install a burglar alarm in your house.

Plus, get this: “U.S. rulemakers have been working on aligning their accounting standards with international rules used by more than 100 countries, including European nations. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has said it will decide some time this year whether to require U.S. companies to switch to international standards.” OK, now wait... the merger will force European companies to switch to using U.S. accounting rules, according to Bloomberg. But at the same time, our accounting rules are being changed in order to line up with Europe's. Am I the only one who sees a shell game going on here?

But it gets better. Another commentator says it will get the Exchange even more involved in derivatives markets – sounds like a winner to me, since that was one of the main reasons for the mini-crash and the Great Recession.

And here's the best part (maybe): “U.S. politicians were unusually quiet about the deal...” Well, yeah – they're all servants of the Regime, and if the Regime wants this deal to go through, it's going to go through, and no mere politician is going to be allowed to stand in the way. I mean, we've already seen this sort of thing in other major strokes by the Regime – NAFTA, the EU itself, the euro, farming out our debt to China, imposition of foreign case law on American courts, and so on. It's all a way of injecting poison into the American system, like some predatory insect or reptile, and letting it do its work, after which time it will be softened up and ready to devour. But of course, it won't be the elite that gets devoured; they will be kept on as loyal servants and collaborators. The people who stand to lose the most are – say it with me – the good old American middle class, once again. Yep, those folks who are blamed for just about everything, who get no preferences, no set-asides, no affirmative action, and whose lifestyle and values are under constant attack from the government, the mainstream media, and the entertainment industry. And now, still another mechanism is being set up to deprive them of their assets and economic freedom. Now we'll have a chance to lose even more on derivatives, and to get involved with the ne'er-do-well economies of Europe (the “PIGS”), on the – let's say -- “supply” side... as if bailing out state and local governments in our own country isn't enough.

And, I repeat, U.S. politicians are “unusually quiet” -- which means that they know it's a done deal. So... are they traitors, collaborators, or merely cowards? Have they been bribed, or blackmailed, or paid off in some pathetic way, like a bunch of two-bit street hustlers? I'm sure I don't know; for every scenario you can come up with, there's probably at least one case that fits. And after all, our economy as well as our political freedoms – not to mention the “American way of life”, for good or ill – have been gradually sold out to the Regime – the global elite – for decades now. One can trace it to the very moment we entered upon the “world stage”, which, I guess, would be the late 1800s – but the process began in earnest during World War I and went into high gear with World War II. The American people have long since ceased to have any significant voice in what happens to them, their resources, or the things that they value... and now it looks as though the process is shifting to the United States as a nation... and to its very future as a nation. We no longer – or very soon will not – have anything to say about our political or economic fate on the world scene. We pretend to be the policemen of the world, and to be in charge of “spreading democracy”, but we are, in fact, only servants of a much larger power – and I suspect that all of our more intelligent politicians know this, and choose to go along... or very quietly fight it. The stupid ones are easily deluded and flattered, and so can be blamed for ignorance if not outright treachery.

So, as to this merger, I just can't imagine any good coming of it for ordinary people. It's a game being played up in the economic and business stratosphere, and it's simply going to accelerate trends that have already gone into overdrive in the last few years, and which add up to the not-so-gradual liquidation of the American middle class, after which... well, what then? We'll have a global elite sitting on a mountain of wealth, and a great, gray proletariat... and not much in between. Kind of like sub-Saharan Africa writ large. Sounds awfully dull and depressing to me, frankly... but this is apparently what they want, and I don't think all the tea parties in the world are going to keep them from getting it.