Politicians must answer to the markets
Germany's Angela Merkel had this rather amusing comment in an interview with ZDF television this week in the context of rejecting euro bonds (again) as a possible solution:
â??It will not be possible to solve the current crisis with euro bonds,â??â?? she said. She added that â??politicians canâ??t and wonâ??t simply run after the markets.â??â??â??The markets want to force us to do certain things,â??â?? she added. â??That we wonâ??t do. The markets want to force us to do certain things. That we wonâ??t do. Politicians have to make sure that weâ??re unassailable, that we can make policy for the people.â?
In their take on her statements Bloomberg reports that Merkel "wonâ??t let financial markets dictate policy." What, we're going to stop now? As Marketplace's Heidi Moore writes:
Good luck with that. Governments still rely on public markets to get enough money to get through the day, week, month and year. â??The peopleâ? canâ??t bring a country to the brink of financial disaster in mere days. The markets can.
To paraphrase Mitt Romney: financial markets are people, too.
