The people have become a nuisance

A spectre is stalking the financial markets: what if the army of unemployed and poor no longer rubber-stamp the policies of the powerful? No wonder neither politicians nor business leaders want to risk too much democracy.

Published on 24 April 2012

The euro crisis is dormant; the trillion loan from the European Central Bank has calmed the waters. A new threat to the financial markets, though, has been spotted: democracy. “The French and Greek elections as well as the referendum in Ireland are sparking concerns among investors, businesses and consumers,” says Elga Bartsch of the U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley.

The euro countries are asking for huge sacrifices from their people. To bolster financial markets’ confidence in their creditworthiness they are laying off hundreds of thousands of state employees, increasing taxes, slashing state funding and rolling back pensions.

**This content has been removed under request of the copyright owner.**

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