The European Stabilization Mechanism or How the Goldman Vampire Squid just Captured Europe
http://www.nationofchange.org/european-stabilization-mechanism-or-how-goldman-vampire-squid-just-captured-europe-1337519246
The Goldman Sachs coup that failed in America has nearly succeeded in Europea permanent, irrevocable, unchallengeable bailout for the banks underwritten by the taxpayers.
In September 2008, Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, managed to extort a $700 billion bank bailout from Congress. But to pull it off, he had to fall on his knees and threaten the collapse of the entire global financial system and the imposition of martial law; and the bailout was a one-time affair. Paulsons plea for a permanent bailout fundthe Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARPwas opposed by Congress and ultimately rejected.
By December 2011, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, former vice president of Goldman Sachs Europe, was able to approve a 500 billion Euro bailout for European banks without asking anyones permission. And in January 2012, a permanent rescue-funding program called the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was passed in the dead of night with barely even a mention in the press. The ESM imposes an open-ended debt on EU member governments, putting taxpayers on the hook for whatever the ESMs Eurocrat overseers demand.
The bankers coup has triumphed in Europe seemingly without a fight. The ESM is cheered by Eurozone governments, their creditors, and the market alike, because it means investors will keep buying sovereign debt. All is sacrificed to the demands of the creditors, because where else can the money be had to float the crippling debts of the Eurozone governments?