Continental sovereignty, once of the people, is now transferred to the "markets" which are then international finance, in turn an expression of large private estates; and then of interests of banks, multinational companies, insurance companies, pension funds. The people can only respond by defending the commons
The "Greek contagion" does not exist. Greece is but the first of many pins targeted in the bowling game that keeps international finance busy. Almost no one believes that Greek finances can be saved by now. The game is just to drag it out because no measures can be glimpsed that can rectify the situation. Portugal, Spain, Ireland or Italy could be overwhelmed, just like in the game of bowling, by the fall of the Greek pin; but each of these countries could also be the first to fall; and be him, then, to overwhelm all the others. It is the whole construction of the European Union that is in danger of collapse. And at the heart of this eventuality is the euro. The idea that infected bodies can be expelled from the euro one by one does not hold up. Meanwhile, even from a material point of view, it is a very difficult operation; without procedures; and all the more risky if implemented not according to a cadenced plan, but under the pressure of speculation. The euro has deprived the governments of the member states of two of the traditional tools of economic policies: devaluation and controlled inflation (through the issuance of new currency). The third, setting the interest rate, is no longer done by either the member states or the ECB. Those who accuse it of stagnation do not take into account that in the current context lower discount rates would provide easier money not for productive investment but for speculation. But the fact is that member states' indebtedness has long since handed over the setting of interest rates – seeing is believing – to the so-called “markets”, to which governments around the world have subjected themselves. A condition of subordination which for some decades was the "prerogative" of the countries of the so-called "Third World", strangled by the International Monetary Fund; but that globalization is now extending to all countries on the planet. To reverse course, the European Union would probably have to take on – and “sterilize” – a large part of the debts of the member states: a continental default, which would certainly be preferable to the random fall of individual states. In both cases, with the times running, everyone will lose out: "strong" economies included.
But what has reduced governments and parties to compete with each other by competing for who is more suitable or able to satisfy or silence the "markets"? And what are these "markets" to which that "sovereignty" has been transferred, i.e. the government of the lives of millions of people, which the Constitutions of all democratic states assign to the people? They are international finance, the most complete, abstract and "delocalized" form of capital. Behind which, however, there are large private assets - be they called hedge funds, private equity or investment funds - which have grown thanks to a gigantic transfer of wealth (on average, 10 per cent of the GDP of almost all countries; which, for a salary, however, can mean 30-40 or even 50 per cent of purchasing power) from labor income to capital income. Then there are the big banks, to which it deregulates
