German Chancellor and austerity uber-frau Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat party got what amounted to a cold beer down its back this past weekend from voters in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The opposition Social Democrat and Green parties got a majority of the seats in the state legislature, while Merkel's Marauders plummeted from 34.6 percent in the last election to 26.3 this time, the worst showing in that state since post- World War II. The election follows a trend in Western Europe of voters expressing anger at the conservative, history-ignoring, austerity-first policies trumpeted by Frau Merkel and her banker/ industrialist backers. French President and Merkel crony Nicolas "La Petite Merde" Sarkozy has gone down in flames, and British toff Prime Minister David "Might I Lick Your Bits, Mr. Murdoch?" Cameron in leading his Tories down the tubes in a similar manner. Huzzah!
It's really pretty simple. Ignoring basic Keynesian Economics 101 (i.e., when you're in a hole, stop digging) has turned modest recoveries into economic downturns in Britain and France. It's also generated a deficit-obsessed political class in this country that has made economic recovery slower and more fragile than it had to be (though the Bush-hole we were in will make any recovery a very long grind nonetheless). In the U.S., as in these conservative-led European countries, the right-wingers have used the economic bad times as a screen to advance their agenda of cuts to social programs, infrastructure and public-sector jobs (hello, Wisconsin Gov. Scott "Divide and Conquer" Walker and the teatard legions!). Eventually, though, the voters catch on and give the plutocrat pols a cold beer down their backs!
(Photo: "Ach, das ist kalt!")
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