The timing is ironic that on the same day that the EU releases a study calling the level of corruption in the European Union to be "breathtaking" that we see headlines like this:
How Goldman Sachs Helped Tear Denmark’s Government Apart
The source of the political crisis in Denmark is Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt . You might remember her from the selfie that was done in such poor taste.
Technically Thorning-Schmidt's government is center-left, but what her government really is is neoliberal.
Besides privitizing public assets, she's pushed through means testing for child care benefits, and pushed back the retirement age.
What finally broke her government was the deal to sell a large stake in Dong Energy to Goldman Sachs, while giving them veto rights over management decisions.
The deal was opposed by 68% of the Danish public, and it brought out thousands of protesters.
It's a telling point that Goldman Sachs had to specifically say that they would "comply, with all applicable tax laws in Denmark, Luxembourg, the U.S."
The simple fact that they felt it necessary to reassure the Danish public of this tells you how little trust there is of Goldman Sachs.
Ironically, while the coalition break will weaken her party and probably doom her re-election bid, it will help her in the short-term. Why? Because the leftists are now gone from her coalition, so now she can replace them with conservatives and thus move her neoliberal agenda forward.
I would compare this to President Clinton's decision to push ahead with NAFTA despite his voting base completely opposing it. Denmark's center-right party is now leading in polls.
As for the rest of Europe, I would like to remind everyone of this infamous graphic.
The photo at the top-left is Goldman Sachs man, Mark Carney, now head of the Bank of England, that helped tank Russia's economy in the 1990's.
These policies ended in a severe economic collapse, which just happened to profit Goldman Sachs tens of millions of dollars. In spite of their involvement in a 1.25 billion dollar bail-out of the Russian government, Goldman Sachs appears to have been betting against success.
I shouldn't have to remind everyone that Goldman Sachs already
owns the Treasury Department.
Or that while Goldman Sachs was getting bailed out by the Federal Reserve in 2008, Stephen Friedman was sitting on the New York Federal Reserve board AND was
purchasing stock in Goldman Sachs.
When the Treasury Department was considering bailing out AIG, who was making "two dozen" personal calls to the Treasury Secretary? Why the CEO of Goldman Sachs, of course. And who benefited the most from the AIG bailout? Why Goldman Sachs, of course.
Lately people have forgotten about Goldman Sachs because the criminal lawlessness of JP Morgan Chase has overshadowed them.
However, not to be outdone, Goldman Sachs is currently under investigation by the DoJ, and is being sued by Libya's sovereign wealth fund.
