<blockquote>'Wolfgang Schauble, German finance minister, said on Wednesday that his budget for 2014, involving spending cuts of more than 5 billion euro to trim the total below 300 billion euro, was "a strong signal for Europe".
The plan means Germany will reach budget balance in 2015, a year earlier than required under the "debt brake" written into its constitution.'
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'Germany .. balance its budget ahead of schedule..' 14 Mar 2013</blockquote>
'Switzerland suffered a decade of increasing debt and deficits. In response, in 2001, the Swiss passed a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget..'<blockquote>'..we should learn from the experience of other countries. In the 1990s, Switzerland suffered a decade of increasing debt and deficits. In response, in 2001, the Swiss passed a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget, adjusted for economic conditions. The amendment worked. When the financial crisis hit, Switzerland, having run surpluses in the preceding years, did not have to go as deeply into debt as Britain to support its economy.
In 2009, learning from the Swiss, Germany introduced its own balanced budget amendment, the Schuldenbremse. From 2016 onwards, unless there is a natural disaster or economic crisis, the federal government will be banned from running a deficit of more than 0.35 per cent of GDP.'
- Kwasi Kwarteng,
'..a new balanced budget law like Switzerland.' 12 Sep 2011</blockquote>
'..a bubble has been set in motion in Germany as a result of the ECB's ultra-low administered interest rates..'<blockquote>'..In fact, it seems likely that a bubble has been set in motion in Germany as a result of the ECB's ultra-low administered interest rates. Bubble conditions are simply busy moving from the periphery to the core. How much longer will it take for politicians in the EU to finally realize what the cause for the boom-bust cycle actually is? We are watching and waiting, but we are not holding our breath..'
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Germany – Trying to Defy the Deficit Spenders, March 16, 2013</blockquote>
'..It seems that France is moving ever further away from being part of the euro zone's so-called 'core' toward becoming part of its 'periphery'. If this continues, it will greatly complicate the survival of the euro.'<blockquote>'The danger is that Hollande, considering his apparent lack of understanding of economics and his strong faith in the idea that 'economic growth' is created by the State and a function of 'economic planning' and higher consumption, will draw the wrong conclusions from this experience. This is to say, he may conclude that said unionists are right and that France needs exactly what he has delivered thus far, only in much greater doses. In that case France could conceivably eventually become a candidate for third world status, similar to what recently happened to Greece (the Greek stock market has suffered the indignity of being removed from the MSCI 'developed markets' index).
The French better hope that their president's advisers are up to the task of convincing him otherwise. They haven't been so far, so there is every reason to be worried. It seems that France is moving ever further away from being part of the euro zone's so-called 'core' toward becoming part of its 'periphery'. If this continues, it will greatly complicate the survival of the euro.'
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Hollande Entered the Kitchen – Now He Feels the Heat, March 16, 2013</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
'..to supplant the welfare state..' - 'What you can count on is that we will return to the traditional mode of assembling human habitats..''..abolish the Fed and get rid of fractional reserve lending .. inflation.''..a smooth transition to an era of unsubsidized competitiveness.''..it is not possible for a central banker to enact Austrian ideas..'</blockquote>