The Bankers' View By Arnold Kling

Robert Rubin Roger Altman writes,

How can Europe pull back from this brink? It needs to immediately install a series of emergency financial tools to prevent an implosion; and put forward a detailed, public plan to achieve full integration within six to 12 months.

Read the whole thing. I think it perfectly represents the bankers’ view of the world. In that view, the sine qua non is that governments must never default and large banks must never fail. If the sober must bail out the profligate, so be it. If democracy must be sacrificed, so be it.

Make no mistake: under the Rubin scenario there would be no shred of democracy left in Europe. What “full integration within 6 to 12 months” translates into is a bloodless coup transferring power from elected national officials to transnational technocrats. Moreover, there would be no mechanism to undo the transfer. If the technocrats mess up (and there is little basis to expect otherwise), there will be nothing that the hapless European public can do about it.

Have a nice D-day.