Amid the panic of the hour, with governments creating, borrowing and spending money like drunken sailors, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emerged as the conscience of the developed world. Perhaps because she was raised in communist East Germany, or maybe because the memory of the 1920s and the evil political consequences thereof is so ingrained in the psyche of her fellow Germans, she is standing like a rock in the tempest, urging people to be prudent.
Under pressure from the Social Democrats who are part of her Grand Coalition, Merkel has already had to spend much -- about 4.5 percent of the country's GDP over two years -- in order to sustain demand. But she is saying enough is enough. Her opposition was crucial, for instance, in preventing the European Union from adopting a rescue package of $229 billion for Eastern Europe. She has steadfastly resisted the proposal to loosen the tight fiscal rules that govern the common currency, the euro.
And she has withstood pressure from the Social Democrats to rescue Opel, the German subsidiary of General Motors, suggesting that bankruptcy might be in order... [snip]
Albert Einstein is said to have described insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The German chancellor is the one Western leader bearing this piece of wisdom in mind these days.
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