(via NachdenkSeiten) In this video Gregor Gysi, the LEFT party leader IDie LINKE), addresses the German Bundestag and, very convincingly, proposes nationalizing the big banks while calling for an investigation into the collapse of Hypo Real Estate (HRE). German taxpayers were forced to shell out more than 100 billion Euros in the most expensive bailout ever in Germany.
If Gregor Gysi is correct, the actions of Finance Minister Steinbrück in the massive government bailout are highly questionable and should be investigated. HRE was formed in 2003 as a spin-off of HypVereinsBank – HVB- (at the time, Germany's second-largest bank). Basically, HVB put all of its toxic real estate loans and derivatives into HRE. As part of the spin-off, HVB agreed to guarantee the obligations of HRE for five years. Steinbrück signed the bailout package on September 29, 2008 – exactly one day after the HVB guarantee expired – meaning that the German taxpayers had to foot the entire bill for HRE and the former owners were completely off the hook. These, of course, are serious charges by Gysi, and one could dismiss them as the rantings of a delusional Marxist raging against the capitalist system. Except that the accusations against Steinbrück were originally made by ultra-capitalist Liberals (FDP) in the Bundestag. And the pretty extensive Wikipedia entry on HRE also mentions this:
Oppositionspolitikern scharf kritisiert. Oskar Lafontaine (Die Linke)
und Volker Wissing (FDP) warfen dem Finanzminister Steinbrück Veruntreuung
vor. Zum einen weil das Finanzministerium mit der Einigung bis zum 29.
September 2008 gewartet hat. Genau ab diesem Tag war die
Verjährungsfrist für eine mögliche Haftung der HRE-Alteigentümer (HypoVereinsbank) abgelaufen, so dass nun der Staat alleine für die HRE haften musste.
Meanwhile, HRE's ex-CEO is rubbing salt in the wounds of German taxpayers by suing for $4 million in back pay.
Gysi is very persuasive speaker. Too bad fewer than a quarter of the parliament members were present to hear his speech.
