German rebellion toward bailouts brewing ? Well , if they are following current events , they should be - especially as German Target 2 totals hit 700 billion euros , Merkels cautions against false hpes for some type of instant game changer deal later this month at the next extra special Summit !

http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/6/8/bailout-rebellion-reawakens-in-germany.html

Bailout Rebellion Reawakens In Germany

FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012 AT 7:11PM

Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank’s CEO until a couple of weeks ago, who knows a thing or two about skeletons hidden in the bank’s vast closets, said at the Atlantic Council that he is “grateful the US is pushing Europe to act faster.” Just like his US counterparts on Wall Street in 2008, he wanted massive taxpayer-funded bailouts of the banks and exhorted the Eurozone to complete the latest bailout fund, the ESM, quickly. Together with the existing EFSF, they would create a €1 trillion firewall—enough to bail out Spain and its banks, but not enough to do the same for Italy.

He pushed Chancellor Angela Merkel to permit banks to draw on these funds directly—though these funds were designed to bail out countries, not corporations. And the German parliament approved them on that basis. He had “no doubt” that the German people would support rescuing the Eurozone, he said, though he left unclear why he exempted, for example, the French or his own compatriots, the Swiss, who’re also suffering from the Eurozone’s woes [Read... Bracing for a Euro Crash: The Swiss Caught in a Vice]. And he was confident that “everything would be done to bail out the Eurozone.”

But the German people weren’t so sure about that—and started to demonstrate. So they were in the streets in Munich to express their opposition to what was being shoved down their throats. The demonstration was organized by Freie Wähler (Free Voters), an organization of voter groups with 19% of the seats in the Bavarian parliament. In addressing the crowd (video), their leader Hubert Aiwanger called for a “Europe of democracy” and “open to the world.” He was worried about the “future of our children,” a future where a “child, just after being born, is already liable for the bailout umbrella that great-aunt Merkel had signed.” Rousing applause.

“It’s on us to take our fate into our own hands so that we don’t learn by watching TV what was signed once again in Brussels,” he said. “These people believe they can turn this very big wheel, but they’re historically forgetful and don’t remember what they promised two or three years ago.”

He feared that the money people put aside during a life of hard work would be “taken hostage by the policies of speculation” and would “lose its value in a few years because now we calculate in trillions....” And he added, “we must create a future for our children and grandchildren where not every euro is already in hock.”

But President Obama, feeling Mitt Romney’s hot breath on his neck, didn’t care about German children. He cared about being reelected—and any effluent from the Eurozone quagmire oozing into the US economy over the next few months would impact his chances. So Friday, he exhorted Europeans to act, and as fast as possible. He had a whole laundry list for them. Most importantly, recapitalize the banks—that is, socialize their losses across borders. He sounded increasingly desperate. Earlier in the week, he’d had private phone conversation with Merkel. Fruitless probably. But the one he’d had with British Prime Minister David Cameron led to a message targeted at Merkel and her government: come up with an “immediate plan” to solve the crisis and to reestablish the “confidence of the markets.”

And French President François Hollande was dealt a resounding defeat in Germany ... that went mostly unnoticed in Germany. But it was front and center in France. He and his country had been under the illusion that he could impose his campaign promises on Merkel’s government—after having antagonized them during the campaign by coddling up to the opposition SPD. So he pushed for Eurobonds and for more government deficit spending to create stimulus. Merkel vehemently brushed off his Eurobonds, though she left a door open for them way in the future, if the Eurozone ever became a political and fiscal union.

Then he tried to implement his campaign promise to renegotiate the fiscal union pact, a hastily drawn-up treaty to induce budgetary discipline into the 25 governments that signed it. Merkel’s grand oeuvre. Hollande wanted to include provisions for additional deficit spending, his “measures of growth,” and he’d block ratification if he had to. He even had the German opposition SPD and EU officials in his camp. But EU officials were just decoration. And Merkel made a side deal with the SPD; she’d support their pet project, a financial transaction tax, and they’d support the fiscal union pact. Hollande was left to twist in the wind.

Humiliation was the word used in the French media. Perhaps the French had thought that the election would change everything in Europe, but it changed nothing.

The German government hasn’t deviated from its principles yet, despite rumors to the contrary: cleanup of budget deficits and implementation of structural reforms in exchange for bailout billions. Growth would come through the private sector, increased competitiveness, and removal of barriers—not from government boondoggles. And her nod towards a political union appeased the federalists in Brussels, but the conditions she attached to it, including ceding sovereignty to Brussels, remain unpalatable everywhere except Brussels, thus eliminating any risk it would ever be accepted.

And in Greece, tourism, its second largest industry after the shipping industry, took another hit as tour-bus drivers went on strike; owners had demanded that they take a 50% pay cut on top of the 20% cut they already suffered! And Greece is the model for Spain and Italy. Read....  Everything is Getting Gummed up in Greece.

Here is an awesome and troubling video by a Greek photojournalist who captured the Greek revolt in 2011.... “Days of Decline.” 

And a dark, thought-provoking video by the author of Currency Wars, James Rickards—particularly powerful in light of the euro crisis: Currency Wars – The Making of the next Global Crisis (video).

and....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/europes-parabolic-est-target2-hits-%E2%82%AC700-billion

Europe's Parabolic-est: German TARGET2 Total Hits €700 Billion

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/08/2012 09:19 -0400

• Germany

Dear German readers: please earmuff your eyes.

Everyone else: please check back in 3-6 months when the Bundesbank's (i.e. Germany) uncollectable "claims" from the Eurosystem hit €1 trillion, following the May increase of €54.4 billion, the third highest monthly increase on record, bringing the total of just shy of €700 billion.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/merkel-lowers-expectations-ahead-of-european-union-summit-a-837544.html

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Wednesday evening could hardly have been more relaxing. She made the short jaunt from Berlin to the Polish city of Gdansk, where Germany's national team has taken up lodgings ahead of the European Football Championship, set to kick off on Friday. After being shown around by team captain Philipp Lahm, she stayed for dinner.

"During my visit, I felt a wonderful team spirit and a lot of cohesion," Merkel said. "I wish them success and the necessary quantum of luck."

With her attention now turned back to the crisis currently threatening the very existence of Europe's common currency, however, Thursday promises to be more difficult. Merkel's day includes talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron as well as a joint afternoon appearance before university students in Berlin together with Cameron and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg -- just two days after Cameron joined US President Barack Obama in demanding immediate action to resolve the euro-zone crisis.

During a Wednesday evening visit to Oslo, Cameron repeated the message. "Speed is of the essence," he said. "Clearly the euro-zone crisis is the biggest threat to the world economy today."

Giving Up Powers to Europe

Merkel, for her part, laid out her talking points early on Thursday in an interview on German public television station ARD. Ahead of a crucial European Union summit at the end of the month, Merkel once again emphasized the need for "more Europe," saying "we don't just need a currency union, but we also need a so-called fiscal union -- meaning more joint budgetary policies."

Most of all, though, she said that a political union was necessary. "That means that we must, step by step through the process, give up more powers to Europe as well and allow Europe oversight possibilities," she said.

Merkel's comments come as European -- and world -- leaders are focused on the ongoing problems in Spain, where a banking industry in crisis has many wondering whether Spain will be forced to take on emergency aid from the euro-zone bailout fund. Madrid has so far resisted such a move out of concern that it could further unsettle investors. But with the country's borrowing costs creeping steadily skyward -- despite a successful auction of 10-year debt on Thursday -- several leaders have already urged them to reconsider their strategy. Experts believe that Spain may need to inject between €75 billion and €100 billion into its teetering financial industry, struggling under the load of billions in bad real estate loans made before the bubble burst in 2009.

Disappointment Likely

Greece, too, remains a major concern, with voters in the country heading to the polls on June 17 for crucial general elections. Should the leftist Syriza party win, as surveys suggest it might, there is a chance that Athens could seek to move away from the tight austerity demanded by the EU and trigger a suspension of European aid payments. The prospect of a Greek exit from the euro zone has many investors extremely wary.

Yet even as Cameron and US President Obama are clamoring for a quick solution, Merkel has already begun trying to lower expectations ahead of the late-June summit. While she has lent her support for the idea of a banking union -- which would increase European oversight of systemically important banks as a step on the path toward providing direct EU aid to banks -- Merkel said on Thursday morning that expectations of a complete plan to emerge at the late June summit are likely to be disappointed.

"I don't think that there is a single summit at which the big design will appear," she said on ARD. "But what we have been doing for some time and where a working plan will certainly be presented … is that we say we need more Europe."

Whether Cameron and Merkel will be able to find common ground remains to be seen. Their joint appearance in Berlin can be viewed live here.