Poor Jean Claude

We at The Angry Trader would like to offer our condolences to Jean Claude Trichet, head of the ECB, for he has been charged with the impossible task of trying to please every member of that retarded economic gorilla known as the European Union. "Jean Claude, Jean Claude," cry the Italians, French and Spanish, "please, please cut interest rates! Our economies are falling off a cliff!" Jean Claude would love to help them, but the ECB's single mandate for maintaining price stability was crafted by old guard Bundesbankers who see the inflation boogeyman at every turn! In fairness to the Germans, they did take it in the ass from the French at the Treaty of Versailles and were subsequently left with a Banana Republic known as the Weimar which broke all records for hyperinflation (although Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwean shitshow is giving it a run for its money!). The Germans will not tolerate a rate cut for fear of second round inflation effects, which is a fancy way of saying that the Germans are are happy that they will be the last of the EU member countries to get sucked into a deflationary black hole. But I digress...we were lamenting poor Jean Claude's plight! He held rates steady today at 4.25% because unlike the Fed he is not charged with the dual mandate of maintaining price stability and encouraging healthy economic growth. No, Jean Claude has one mandate -- fighting inflation -- and he has fulfilled his duties faithfully in that regard. Problem is, the market has figured out that the Eurozone economy is being flushed down an even bigger, deeper shitter than the one swallowing the U.S. economy and they have sent the EUR on what may prove to be just the first leg of its journey to the ash heap of history. Milton Friedman predicted back in 1999 that the EU -- and the EUR -- would likely not survive its first real recession. We're about to find out if the father of modern economics is as sharp as we think he is. Poor Jean Claude knows, of course, that a weaker EUR is inflationary, so he may even be hiking rates soon -- after all, EUR/USD vaporized a 7-year uptrend line today! Parity, here were come! To paraphrase that commie-coddling prick Edward R. Murrow, "Goodnight, Europe -- and good luck!"