http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy
In this case, Greece is being led now by Lucas Papademos, and Italy by Mario Monti as Prime Ministers. Not really technocrats as they were both economists and businessmen, but that's what they are calling them because they were academics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Monti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papademos
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/world/europe/greece-and-italy-ask-technocrats-to-find-solution.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.economist.com/node/21538698
I said this in my original post about these two and I'm highlighting three keep points...
"George Papandreou and Silvio Berlusconi were forced to resign in the past two weeks for not getting their fiscal house in order and putting the entire European Union at risk of collapse. This will not end in my opinion until every country's head of state has been considered "friendly" in helping the EU and the European Central Bank do whatever it is they are trying to do.
The replacement of Berlusconi with Mario Monti is just what I am talking about here. A politician being replaced by a banker. The problem with this is that Monti will force the fiscal house to get in order. What's wrong with that, sounds like that's what they need, right? Sure, if they want more taxpayer funded bailouts of banks, increased retirement ages, lower social programs, etc. Banks who should be bankrupt already. Banks who pay their CEO's millions of dollars (or Euros) to run an already failing business into the ground with more taxpayer funded "loans." This is what is constituting an "answer" to the problem. This is no solution, only more problems."
So the first highlight I said that Monti would help the European Union and the European Central Bank do whatever it is they are trying to do. Well, it should be obvious that the European Union wants to have the Euro currency survive, and the European Central Bank wants what's best for their interests, for the banks to make money and survive. So at stake is the strength of the Euro and the banks. The same banks who should be bankrupt already, as my second highlight reflects. And in order for the Euro currency to survive, both the countries who are causing the "fiscal issues" (i.e. Greece and Italy, right now) need to get their house in order, and the banks need to stay afloat. So their solution was to put Mario Monti in as PM and help do this. I said it was no solution, only more problems.
Well, it didn't take long for Monti to get to work.
“What we need,” Monti told reporters on Dec. 5, “is a revolution in Italians’ thinking.”
1.) Cash caps.
On Dec. 4th, Monti instituted a 1,000 Euros (about $1,340) cash cap on all transactions. So no more going to the store to pay cash for a nice new tv, used car, item at a pawn shop, etc. All illegal now. Everything must be done by check, debit card, or credit card.
Why? So it's traceable. You can't collect taxes on cash transactions. Heck, most governments consider it illegal, nefarious, terrorist behavior to use cash these days. Well, Italy, who is a very cash oriented country just eliminated larger cash transactions. Monti's goal...300 Euros as a cap. Why didn't he do that right away, uprising. He knew people would have a big issue with 300 Euros, so it'll be in steps so people will have "time to adapt to new rules."
Problems with this?
Oh yeah, there's problems.
One issue I immediately see is the near forced use of debit and credit cards. Sure you can write a check, but who does that any more when you can swipe a card so easily? So why is debit and credit card use a problem. Well, the banks charge money for their use. Debit cards are about 1.00-1.50% of the total, and credit cards are 1.25-3.00%. They charge the merchant or business this fee to accept them. This increases the price of items in stores to cover that cost. How many people have noticed that the price of Diesel for trucks on the highway are $.05-$.07 less per gallon if using cash vs. credit/debit cards? This is why. In the future, I would have thought the use of cash again would become the in thing to do as stores picked up on this. Well, not if the gov't makes it illegal they won't.
There's another issue at hand, and that's the culture of America...borrow, spend, repeat.
Italy’s tradition of saving won’t be at risk from the new measures, said Nicola Borri, an economics professor at Rome’s LUISS University. “Italians mainly use debit or credit cards with stringent limits,” he said. “Financial instruments that allow you to pile up debt are very limited in this country.”
The bold is mine. So, Italy already has a culture of fiscal prudence. But Monti wants, "a revolution in Italian's thinking" more directed to the borrow, spend, repeat American thinking. We all know how that turned out.
So as you may be able to see, throughout all of the world's leadership, they want to create more debt and create more money to pay for the financial crisis that was caused by too much debt and too much money.
2.) Tracking People
This is an Italian article (will need to convert using Google translator) that discusses the new "demands for tighter use" of the Fiscovelox (looks like a camera surveillance van) of the Guardia di Finanza at the border of Switzerland to identify possible tax violations and "to prevent the flight of capital abroad."
No comment necessary for that. The goal is clearly said to make sure people don't leave the country with their money.
So here in one month, Italy's Mario Monti has done two things to make sure that Italians will pay the huge debt burden that has been incurred by the gov't in order to help the Euro currency, and to help the insolvent European banks make more money through the use of transaction costs of debit and credit cards.
I see a lot of problems with these two things. This is what happens in a country that spends too much money that they don't have. Or has a government that spends too much money that the people don't have. Eventually, it will fall on the people of that country, and the noose will be tightened. This is the beginning of what will eventually occur in all major debt burdened countries. The government's will make the people pay by any means they can. And who exactly are they paying again? Who does the government owe money to? If you remember my previous posts, the financiers (banks, wall street, central banks all around the world, anyone who buys their gov't treasury bonds). These are all private institutions. And they are owed money. They need the government to help collect this money for them, so they put people in power like Monti and Papademos to institute laws and regulations like these to make sure the debt is paid. If you try and leave the country, they won't let you. All for the sake of the creditors.
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