Nazis are still bad

Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaros
(No Head Tattoo in Real Life)

Over the past few years there has been an alarming increase in the power far right wing political parties, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe.  Quietly, they have amassed power and influence.  Now we all know that Nazis were bad and we probably don't want them ruling parts of Europe again.  So I am puzzled why more people aren't pissed off about the rise of the Golden Dawn in Greece and Jobbik in Hungry, among others.

It is not really surprising that the inflation that is killing these poorer nations is being inflicted by the stronger Northern and Western European powers and that this economic shift came before the real power surge for these right wing groups. For those of you not getting my less-than-subtle histo-economic reference, I point you to the Great War Reparations that were levied upon Weimar Germany.  In short, Germany, loser of the First World War, got hosed in the post war deal making room.  It lead to technical hyper-inflation, where burning currency to stay warm was more efficient than paying for heat with the same paper notes.

Now, we have the European Central Bank and the IMF and others pushing Greece and others to make HUGE cuts to social services.  So why not blame the Jews and the Muslims and the Gypsies and the immigrants who are taking up the share of social services that belong to real Greeks/Hungarians/others?  It has worked before, so why change?  No good reason I can see...

The Business Insider has been reporting on this issue for a while and the New York Times has a few articles on the issue. With the U.S. Presidential election completely into allegations of Big-Bird-a-cide odds are we aren't going to hear much about this from Obama or Romney.  This is sort of surprising since the European economic recovery, which will be hampered by the return of Facism, is pretty central to the U.S. economic recovery.

Surprisingly it hasn't really made the rounds in the Jewish community.  You might think Jews would be a bit less pleased with Nazis in new clothing roaming around the birthplace of Democracy.

But not so much.

This has me worried.

Dark Horse and a Bright Quote

The IMF needs a new leader for some reason or another. Conventional wisdom and vote counting point to French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and then to a distant second of Mexico's Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens.

However, Stanley Fischer, governor of the central bank of Israel, is also tossing his hat in the ring. (Fill in conspiracy theory here...)

But the real piece of news that I find fascinating is that in the Wall Street Journal article about Mr. Fischer, the reporter rightly points to the built in opposition that will inveitably surface within the Arab and emerging markets. But here is the sweet part.

George Abed, former head of the Palestinian Monetary Authority said this in an exchange with the WSJ via email:

Mr. Fischer is "the most qualified of all the candidates that I have seen mentioned din the media so far," calling Fischer "pragmatic, politically savvy, and a skilled manager."

Now this isn't an endorsement nor is it glowing but it is powerful.

In the real world, outside of college campus rallies and Washington think tanks, economics are key. Rhetoric and vitriol are fine and dandy, but wait until you can't buy a gallon of milk or bread cost as much rent. Then you will see real revolution. The fact that the guy in charge of the money of his enemy is willing to say he is the best for the job is a really powerful statement.