@Walter Hinteler,
Walter Hinteler wrote:
Quote:The US ambassador to Germany reportedly told German car executives on Wednesday that Washington would agree to solve an auto trade dispute with Brussels if both the European Union and the United States abolished their tariffs on each other's cars.
DW
On trade issues, the EU is the sole negotiating partner, individual member states such as Germany cannot make individual agreements - and certainly not corporations.
What a dunce our Ambassador is! Right, Walter? The ignorant clown actually thinks the executives of major German corporations have influence within German and EU political circles!
Obviously, he knows nothing about Germany and Europe. He must be thinking of the US where super-rich capitalists go far beyond influencing political decisions, they dictate them. I'm sure none of the other ambassadors to Germany would be stupid enough to waste time talking to the barons of German industry (unless it was to order a customized Porche, or some precision engineered dental equipment) After all, what possible influence could the CEO of the world's largest chemical producer manage to exert on the any of the governments of the 80 nations, on five continents, in which it has subsidiaries and joint-venture? Even if BASF executives were able to influence lawmakers in these countries (And in places like Asia, Africa, and the US, we know they could just by waving around some currency) they would never even try...they're German!
You should cut him some slack though Walter. We Americans, who live every day under the yoke of crony capitalism, just have a very hard time grasping that Germany in particular and the EU, in general, have rid their societies of the corrupting influence of great wealth...well, Germany will have done so once they finish cleaning up their nasty auto industry.
(
I think that if after reading Walter's comment my eyes rolled up any further in my head, I would never be able to bring them back to normal)