MONKEY BUSINESS 2008-2009 and ....Germany Joins In Just as Major Election Year begins

By Kevin Stoda in Wiesbaden, Germany

MONKEY BUSINESS 2008-2009 and ....Germany Joins In Just as Major Election Year Begins


My aunt sent me this article on MONKEY BUSINESS last week--the very week that the German government set a record for the bailout package for a single bank, namely the German Commerz(Commerce)Bank. The cost to German tax payers is 18,000,000,000 Euros.

Many Germans are not hapy with this fact, especially since many of the Commerz Bank actors are too cozy with the government--just like in the USA´s situation in October.

This article on the boondoggle of bank bailouts around the globe these two years (2008-2009) can be found here,

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2150236/posts

however, no known author is given. Here is the nursery tale:

MONKEY BUSINESS METAPHOR

Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.


The villagers, knowing there were many monkeys, went to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.


He then announced that he would buy monkeys at $20 each. This renewed the villagers efforts and they started catching monkeys again.


Soon the supply diminished and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so scarce it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would buy on his behalf.

The assistant told the villagers, "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that my boss has already collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when my boss returns, you can sell them to him for $50."

The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys for 700 billion dollars.

They never saw the man or his assistant again, only lots and lots of monkeys!

Now you have a better understanding of how the WALL STREET BAILOUT PLAN WORKS !!!

It doesn't get much clearer than this........

HESSEN; GERMANY JANUARY 18, 2008

Tomorrow in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and in the whole Bundesland (State of Hessen) in Germany voters will have there first chance to respond to the federal government in Germany´s largesse to the financial sector after spending years cutting spending on welfare--sounds like America.

I would bet money (the governments money of course) that both the Green Party and the Links Party do better than ever in Hessen in the elections tomorrow. Hessen on Januar 18, 2009 is the first of a series of major state elections in Germany which will later culminate in a national election (probably at the end of September 2009)

Here are what newspapers are saying about tomorrows vote--as over 40% of the voters remain undecided.


NOTES ON MAJOR PARTIES

The following web links provide fairly up-to-date info on the five major parties: CDU/CSU, SPD, Die Linke (The Left), The Greens, and FDP.

http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/index.htm

http://www.hubdub.com/m25814/German_Federal_Election_2009What_will_be_the_percentage_for_FDP

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/230196,german-spd-in-drastic-reshuffle-before-2009-elections--summary.html

http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/umfrage-cdu-fdp-mehrheit-bei-hessenwahl--/de/Thema-Des-Tages/19969761

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/germanyaas_christian_parties_remain_on_top/


When I predict that both The Greens and The Left (Die Linke)parties will do better than expected or better than in Hessens last elections, I am betting against what some media say here in Hessen and in German--but with what everyone on the streets seems to be saying to me over the past two weeks.

This is namely that what the grand coalition of CDU-CSU (Conservatives) and the SPD (The socialists) have done in recent years in Germany is to alienate both their fringe and their base voters.

There will be a large number of protest voters tomorrow. They, however, may vote for the FDP (Free Market Liberals)who would possibly have also put some breaks on the German governments bailing out of certain businesses and industries.

However, since many people are facing job and economic insecurities, many voters may vote for any number of tiny parties that have not yet been in the Hessen Parliament this decade--if ever.

Until now The Left Party in Hessen has never done well, but with its opposition to HARZ 4 Program, a federal program to reduce the welfare state in German over the past half decade,I believe 6 % or more in the election tomorrow would not be unanticipated.

Meanwhile, The Greens might poll 15%--a record for them in Hessen--this election.

On the other hand, with the likelihood that the Socialists (SPD) would only get 25 to 30 % of the vote on Sunday, there is certainly a good chance that the CDU (Conservatives) and the free market liberals might actually retain control of the Hessen Parliament after all.