But he is also a neo-liberal, like most central bankers, and is clearly not on the side of workers. And he is bound by his mandate, which is solely price stability.

As a neo-liberal, he will preach to governments about their social spending (not part of his charge), and is given to harangues to labor unions for asking for too much pay (which, funny, is also not part of his charge, but he feels free to engage is such meddling in markets all the while insisting they be free of influence from, say, representatives of workers). You won't see Trichet pursuing full-employment policies on his own - working stiffs don't merit his attention.

But if bankers and their shareholders start losing their shirts when, say a mortgage debt crisis the other side of the planet exploses, you can be sure he will be there to "inject" some liquidity into the market to help them avoid losing some of their already considerable wealth, certainly.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill