To understand the reasons for the charade that played out in the Oval Office of the White House on February 28, it is advisable to look at what happened in Germany just a few hours later: Friedrich Merz, chancellor-in-waiting and a former BlackRock executive, announced a $900 billion package – twice Germany’s annual federal budget – for defence and infrastructure. (In a bulletin on February 24, BlackRock had anticipated that the German vote would allow for increased spending.) A few days later, Merz confirmed radical proposals (the largest overhaul of monetary policy since the reunification, alongside a constitutional reform) aimed at relaxing restrictions on debt accumulation to enable increased defence expenditure – in stark contrast, of course, to the fiscal austerity enforced across the EU over the past two decades, particularly the sadistic measures imposed on Greece.

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