I'll never snark about Western TV again (until I forget...)!

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

Big savers got us into this mess, as well as big spenders

Yes, we can blame the City and Wall Street for turning the global savings glut into fissile material. But that's like saying, "hyenas do what hyenas do". Given extraordinarily lax regulation and a flood of money to play with, bankers were just acting according to their incentive schemes. They merely took advantage of the opportunities the glut presented. The real culprits are thrifty Germans, and state-owned enterprises in China - along with governments of other countries, of course, turning a blind eye to the escalating problems.

Gas security proposal undercuts European gas market

Market participants in countries with a weak supply security may even be encouraged to make unreasonable demands in contract negotiations with external suppliers, on the assumption that they will be backed by the powers of the Commission should the negotiations fail. In effect, with this Proposed Regulation the Commission is setting up an import cartel.

At the same time, countries that have invested heavily in diversification and sourcing of new supplies, will find themselves punished in case of a crisis. They will have to pay the price of the crisis - and may even literally find their gas supplies taken from them by the Commission.

People need to start reading la Cigale et la Fourmi again.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes