Dialog International

Augstein: GOP is the "Taliban of the West"

Jakob Augstein has an opinion piece (English,  Deutsch) in Der Spiegel which is worth reading.  Augstein has some choice words concerning the party of Mitt Romney: 

"Wir wollen glauben, dass Obama an den Rechten im eigenen Land gescheitert ist. Und tatsächlich: die Fanatiker, von denen Mitt Romney sich abhängig gemacht hat, haben alles über Bord geworfen, was den Westen ausgezeichnet hat: Wissenschaft und Logik, Vernunft und Mäßigung oder einfach Anstand. Sie hassen die Schwulen, die Schwachen und den Staat, sie unterdrücken die Frauen und verfolgen die Einwanderer, und ihr Abtreibungsmoralismus macht auch vor den Opfern von Vergewaltigung nicht halt. Sie sind die Taliban des Westens."

(We want to believe that Obama failed because of the conservatives inside his own country. Indeed, the fanatics that Mitt Romney depends on have jettisoned everything that distinguishes the West: science and logic, reason and moderation, even simple decency. They hate homosexuals, the weak and the state. They oppress women and persecute immigrants. Their moralizing about abortion doesn't even spare the victims of rape. They are the Taliban of the West.)

But, in general, I don't agree with Augstein's conclusion that "the winner doesn't make any difference to Europe."  Surely it is an advantage to have a partner in the US tha shares broadly the values of the European Union. 

Romney's Endgame - Lies and More Lies

The Romney campaign looks desperate in the final days before the election and so has been filling the airwaves across the US with ads that, at best, distort the truth or are outright lies: 

Mit Werbespots schürt er Ängste, die Chrysler-Marke Jeep wolle die Produktion eines besonders erfolgreichen Geländewagens nach China auslagern. Das sei eine Lüge, schoss der Konzern umgehend zurück.

(In campaign ads he stirs up fear that Chrysler Jeep is planning to transfer production of its highly successful sport untility vehicle to China.  The company immediately shot back that this is a lie.)

It all got to be too much for the editorial board of the Washington Post, which over the weekend accused Romney of blatent dishonesty:

"And then there has been his chronic, baldly dishonest defense of mathematically impossible budget proposals. He promised to cut income tax rates without exploding the deficit or tilting the tax code toward the rich — but he refused to say how he could bring that off. When challenged, he cited “studies” that he maintained proved him right. But the studies were a mix of rhetoric, unrealistic growth projections and more serious economics that actually proved him wrong."

But the biggest lie of the Romney campaign is that Mitt Romney has a record of creating jobs and cutting debt. Worth reading in this respect is this piece in the Handelsblatt:  Romney the Robber. The article discusses the tactics of Romney's old firm Bain Capital which provided rich returns to its investors by cutting jobs and loading portfolio companies with debt:

Das Ganze ist nicht ohne Ironie. Denn in seinem Wahlkampf verkauft sich Romney gerne als den Vorstandschef, der durch seine wirtschaftliche Kompetenz Amerikas Wirtschaft wieder richten will. Gerne greift er Präsident Barack Obama als Schuldenmacher an, der den US-Haushalt in die roten Zahlen getrieben habe.

Dabei verschuldete Romney und seine Untergebenen bei Bain Capital ihre Gesellschaften bis zum Anschlag. Noch lange Zeit profitierte Romney auch nach seinem Abgang 1999 von den Sonderdividenden, wie die Autoren Rauch und Fürth herausfanden: "Er hielt Anteile an den entsprechenden Investmentfunds".

(The whole thing is not without irony.  For in his campaign he sells himself as the chief executive who through his business skills will put America's economy back on a strong footing.  He likes to portray President Obama as someone who just creates more and more debt and who drove the budget deep into the red.  But Romney and his subordinates leveraged their companies to the hilt.  He could profit from the special dividends for a long time, even after he left Bain in 1999, the authors Rauch and Fuerth learned. "He continued to participate in the respective investment funds.")

Will the "low information" white working class voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania fall for Romney's dishonest tactics?  We'll know soon enough. 

 

Der Standard: Blame Obama for Hurricane Sandy Devastation

The east coast of the United States is reeling from Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath.  The Republican governor of New Jersey, which took a direct hit from Sandy, is praising President Obama for his leadership and swift action in providing emergency storm relief.  But, according to the Austrian daily Der Standard, all of this terrible damage could have been avoided if Obama were a better president: 

Die amerikanische Infrastruktur ist in einem für ein so hochtechnologisiertes Land gefährlich schlechten Zustand. Es bedarf gar keiner chinesischer Superhacker, um die Stromversorgung in weiten Teilen der USA abzudrehen. Es genügen auch ein paar auf Oberleitungen gefallene Bäume, damit sieben Millionen Menschen an der Ostküste tagelang ohne Energieversorgung dastehen. Das gilt nicht nur bei einem Ereignis der Größenordnung Sandys, ähnliche Zustände sind auch bei viel geringeren Stürmen an der Tagesordnung. Der Grund dafür ist schlichtweg, dass die Stromleitungen oberirdisch verlaufen. [...] Obamas größtes Versäumnis der vergangenen vier Jahre war es indes, die Amerikaner nicht davon zu überzeugen, dass es eben auch eine Bundesregierung braucht, die Entscheidungen gegen individuelle Interessen und für das höhere Gemeinwohl trifft - ob es nun um die Gesundheitsreform geht, den Katastrophenschutz, Infrastrukturprojekte von nationalem Interesse oder die Kreditwirtschaft.

("The American infrastructure is in a dangerously poor state of repair for such a highly technologised country. It doesn't take a Chinese super-hacker to switch off the power in large parts of the US. All it takes is for a couple of trees to fall on the power lines. ... The reason is simply that the power lines run above ground. No one wants to use (taxpayers') money to put them underground. They prefer to put up with a national emergency every time a big storm hits. ... Obama's biggest omission in the last four years was to fail to convince Americans that they need a federal government to make decisions against individual interests and for the common good - whether it be on healthcare reform, disaster control, infrastructural projects of national interest or the credit services sector.")

This criticism is wrong on so many levels.  First, power has been knocked out in New York City in part because the electrical infrastructure is UNDERGROUND which was flooded by the storm surge. Second, Sandy is the most powerful storm to hit the most populous region of the US.  I live 500 miles to the north of where Sandy made landfall and lost power due to the high winds.  Even if we had built a 20 foot seawall along 1000 miles of coastline it would have done little to slow the fury of the storm.  As for President Obama, he used a large chunk of his $750 billion stimulus package to upgrade and repair the US infrastructure.  Do I need to point out that this stimulus was opposed by EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN member of the US Congress?  And during the presidential campaign Obama is being excoriated for his "collectivist/socialist" stimulus? 

Perhaps Der Standard doesn't realize that the US is not a dictatorship where the president can simply impose his will on the public. 

BAYER steps up big for Mitt Romney

Which German firm has given the most money to the Romney campaign?  It turns out that BAYER AG is placing its bets on Romney, in the hopes that a Romney administration will repeal existing regulations pertaining to drug and pesticide safety: 

Der Leverkusener BAYER-Konzern gehört traditionell zu den wichtigsten ausländischen Spendern im US-Wahlkampf. Aktuell schlägt sich BAYER - wie in den vergangenen Wahlkämpfen - auf die Seite der Republikaner. Mit Spenden in Höhe von 261.000 Dollar ist das Leverkusener Unternehmen größter deutscher Förderer der Republikaner, gefolgt von der Deutschen Telekom mit 193.500 Dollar und der BASF mit 128.000 Dollar.

(The BAYER corporation in Leverkusen has traditionally been a major foriegn contributor in US elections. This time - as in past elections - BAYER is on the side of the Republicans.  With donations reaching $261,000 the Leverkusen corporation is the largest backer of the Republicans, followed by Deutsche Telekom with 193,500 and BASF with 178,000.)

Philipp Mimkes of the Coalition gegen BAYER Gefahren explains why BAYER's intervention in US politics poses a threat: 

“American politics are in a stranglehold of lobbyists and powerful donors. This prevents improvements of environmental and consumer protection. The noble ideal of “One Man, One Vote” in the American constitution has turned into a disdainful “One Dollar, One Vote”.” The Coalition demands laws stopping companies from donating to parties, politicians and think tanks.

During the mid-term elections in 2010, BAYER, BASF and the German electric provider E.ON specifically backed candidates who deny climate change or block effective climate laws. BAYER is also one of the supporters of the American Heartland Institute, which denies the existence of climate change and was instrumental in the rise of the reactionary ‘Tea Party’. The institute collects donations from the industrial sector and uses them, amongst other things, to finance blogs and pay seemingly neutral organisations – all with the aim of planting doubt about climate change.

Welcome to post-Citizens United America, where we have the best democracy money can buy.

 

Junge Freiheit, Politically Incorrect endorse Mitt Romney

While Barack Obama remains relatively popular in Germany, some of the media outlets on the right have expressed support for Mitt Romney.  The Berlin weekly Junge Freiheit, mouthpiece of the neo-fascist "Neue Rechte"  (New Right), chastises fellow Germans for their pro-Obama sentiments: 

Aus den heimischen Medien wurden sie fast nur über „Pleiten, Pech und Pannen“ Romneys aufgeklärt. Eine ernsthafte Auseinandersetzung mit dem Republikaner und seinem Programm suchte man zumeist vergebens. Konservativ und irgendwie rückständig, dieses Bild wurde vermittelt. Dabei spricht auch aus deutscher Sicht viel für den Republikaner. [...]Trotzdem geben 90 Prozent der Deutschen an, sie würden Obama wählen. Sie kennen den Scherbenhaufen nicht, den er nach vier Jahren hinterläßt: hohe Arbeitslosigkeit, Armut und Rekordpreise für Energie. Für die Deutschen bleibt Obama dagegen der ewige Popstar und Friedensnobelpreisträger, der irgendwann mal eine Rede an der Siegessäule gehalten hat. (ho)

(The German media only reports on Romney's "bankruptcies, bad luck and gaffes". There is no serious discussion of the Republican and his policies.  They just project the image of him as conservative and somewhat backward-lookig. But Romney has much to offer Germany....Still, 90% of Germans say they would vote for Obama.  They don't know the wreckage he has left behind after four years: high unemployment, poverty and record-high energy prices. For Germans Obama is still the eternal popstar and Nobel Prize-winner who once gave a speech at the Berlin Victory Column.)

Not to be outdone, the "pro-American" hate blog Politically Correct - one of the most popular German blogs in terms of daily hit volume - recently attacked President Obama and Hilary Clinton for their criticism of the crude anti-Islam YouTube video that led to a spasm of violence across the Middle East:

Die randalierenden und marodierenden mohammedanischen Araber haben bestimmt nicht daran gedacht, aber sie helfen dem Republikaner Mitt Romney dabei, Präsident zu werden. Wir würden uns freuen!

(The rampaging and marauding Mohammedan Arabs were certainly not intending to, but they are helping the Republican Mitt Romney win the presidency.  We would be delighted!) 

I'm still waiting to see who the neo-Nazi NPD will endorse once they realize that their friend David Duke is not on the ballot this year. 

Romney's Tax Plan Would Create Jobs - In Germany

MItt Romney made his fortune as a Private Equity "Locust" (Heuschrecke). When his firm Bain Capital acquired a company , the modus operandi was to shut down manufacturing in the US and transfer production in low-cost labor environments overseas. 

Now, with his tax plan, Romney hopes to accelerate overseas job creation by eliminating US tax on foreign profits. This would create 800.000 overseas jobs, with Germany as a big benificiary, given the substantial US multinational presence there.

1. Currently, U.S. corporations don’t have to pay U.S. taxes on profits earned overseas until those profits are brought back into the United States. If elected, Romney would completely eliminate all U.S. taxes on these profits. Therefore, for the first time in modern history, an American company could move a factory overseas and never pay a single dollar in U.S. taxes on the profits generated by that factory.

2. Eliminating taxes on foreign profits could create 800,000 jobs overseas. No longer required to pay taxes on foreign profits, companies would now have new incentives to move their operations out of the United States. Economist Kim Clausing, an expert in international taxation, estimated that Romney’s plan to eliminate these taxes could lead to the creation of 800,000 jobs overseas. These jobs, created in China and other countries, could replace American jobs, drive down the wages of American middle-class workers, and undermine our economic recovery.

Is there any wonder why Deutsche Bank and Allianz are huge financial backers of Romney's campaign and the right-wing "superpacs" spending tens of $millions on televsion ads.?

Left out of the equation here are the additional Swiss bankers that will be requred to launder invest the profits, since the money will never be repatriated to the US so as to avoid taxation here. 

The Stupidity of Jan Fleischhauer

Every four years Der Spiegel attempts to make sense of the US presidential election for its readers.  In 2008 it was Gabor Steingart who botched the coverage, and assured Germans that Barack Obama had zero chance of winning the presidency.  For the 2012 cycle Jan Fleischhauer, resident conservative intellectual at Der Spiegel, is providing wrong-headed information. 

In his most recent column, Fleischhauer assures readers that the pundits have it wrong and that Mitt Romney will win in November.  Also, there is nothing to worry about, since Romney is not an extremist.  How does Fleischauer know this?  Google.

Wer sich ein wenig im Netz umschaut, wird schnell feststellen, dass Romney in seinem politischen Leben schon so ziemlich jeden Standpunkt vertreten hat, der auch Demokraten am Herzen liegt.

(If you look around the Internet a bit you'll see that in his political career Romney has taken virtually every position that Democrats hold dear.)

Yes, that's precisely the problem.  Romney ran as a progressive moderate to win the state house in Massachusetts - he had to, in order to win in liberal state.  But now he has renounced every position he held ten years ago - from reproductive choice for women to equality for gay couples.  He has embraced the Tea Party and its language of exclusion in order to win over the extreme right wing that control's today's Republican Party.  He has vowed to repeal "Obamacare" his first day in office, depriving ten millions of Americans access to affordable health care.  His recotd shows that he has no core principles,  he is Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften who will say anything, promise anything, to win the White House. 

Fleischhauer attempts to buttress his argument by referring to a Newsweek piecc by Harvard hack Naill Ferguson. Salon Magazine reviewed Ferguson's piece and determined that "his piece is just fundamentally dishonest, top to bottom."

Advice to Jan Fleischauer (and to Der Spiegel): it's better to remain silent on things you know nothing about.

Sie wollen Krieg / They want war

 

 

AUF DER MAUER STAND MIT KREIDE:
Sie wollen Krieg.
Der es geschrieben hat
Ist schon gefallen.

Bertolt Brecht

Kurt Tucholsky on Mitt Romney

 

Es gibt Leute, die wollen lieber
einen Stehplatz in der ersten Klasse
als einen Sitzplatz in der dritten.
KURT TUCHIOLSKY

 

         (Some people would rather stay standing in First Class,

           than take a seat in Coach)

(HT Rudi Homann)

 

Swiss Bankers for Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney has promised American voters that if elected president he would "create 12 million jobs". He offers no specific plan for doing this, but instead points his success in the private sector.  In fact, at the private equity firm Bain Capital Mitt Romney did make $millions for himself, but he did it by leveraging his portfolio companies with bank debt, shutting down US production, shedding US jobs, and shifting production - and jobs- overseas, primarily to China.  Romney has mostly kept his private wealth in offshore Swiss bank accounts.  So, while there is not a lot of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney among the American electorate, there is one group that is showing very strong support for the Romney campaign: Swiss Bankers. 

Für welchen Kandidaten zücken leitende Angestellte der Schweizer Grossbanken in den USA das Portemonnaie? Sie tun es vor allem für Obamas Herausforderer. ...Die beiden Schweizer Grossbanken UBS und Credit Suisse (CS) spielen eine wichtige Rolle, wie eine aktuelle Analyse des Newsdienstes von «Swissinfo» zeigt. Die CS und die UBS seien nämlich die einzigen ausländischen Unternehmungen, die unter den 15 grössten Spendern zugunsten von Mitt Romney figurieren.

( For which candidate do the top managers of the big Swissbanks in the US open their wallets?  They do this above all for Obama's challenger... the two big Swiss banks - UBS and Credit Suisse - are playing a key role, according to an analysis of the Swissinfo news service.  UBS and CS are the only foreign companies that appear among the 15 biggest donors to Mitt Romney.)

I really like the comment that Martni O'Malley, the governor of Maryland, made at the Democratic National Convention:

”Swiss bank accounts never built an American bridge. Swiss bank accounts don’t put cops on the beat or teachers in our classrooms. Swiss bank accounts never created American jobs!” 

O’Malley followed with a line not in his prepared remarks: “Just because you bank against the United States of America doesn’t mean the rest of us are willing to sell her out.”