a) will you at least grant that the court is more powerful

In most policy areas, yes. In economic policy, which is, after all, the area presently under discussion, no. There is no substantial judicial review of ECB policy decisions.

b) will you at least grant that the ECB is the ECB and not the Bundesbank?

De jure, certainly. De facto, I cannot point to a single material difference in policy before the past few days.

c) will you at least admit that the national governments and the council determine the composition of the governing council of the ECB?

Obviously, yes.

Giving the federal republic about as much influence as larger german state had on the Bundesbank?

a) That does not follow from the composition of the board.

b) The BuBa always was a state-within-the-state in Germany, so pointing out that the German government fails to control the BuBa representatives to the ECB board hardly proves that the BuBa is not still a cancerous state-within-the-state.

Now, do you or do you not believe that inflation targeting and central bank independence are moronic policies? Do you or do you not believe that states should be forced to pay interest on their own currency? I'd really like to know if we're even speaking the same language here.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.