Damn ignorant Romanians don’t understand how the free market works:
Romania’s President Traian Basescu will probably be impeached in a referendum later this month, an opinion poll showed on Sunday, setting the stage for months of political battles that could further unnerve markets.
The ruling Social Liberal Union (USL) of leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta suspended Basescu on Friday saying he had overstepped his powers. An impeachment referendum will take place on July 29.
An opinion survey conducted by pollster IMAS for local radio station Europa FM showed 64.3 percent of Romanians would vote to impeach Basescu, who is widely unpopular for backing austerity measures, including salary cuts and a rise in sales tax.
ruemara
Sounds like a good plan to me.
Violet
Now the Romanians will never get to see the confidence fairy!
Face
Europa FM? Fo shiz? I call shenanigans.
Punchy
Is there a Romanian alive whose name doesnt end in “-escu”?
@Face: whats Sullivan’s take on Europa FM?
PeakVT
Krugman’s guest expert Kim Lane Scheppele wrote something about this a few days ago.
Comrade Dread
Given that their region gave birth to the modern legends of a small insular cadre of bloodsuckers who preyed on the common people, I think they understand the free market just fine.
the Conster
“About 27 percent of Romanians would vote in favour of Basescu”
That number’s a global wingnut constant. Spooky.
SiubhanDuinne
@Punchy:
I know a Romanian woman whose last name ends in “-omir.”
Punchy
@SiubhanDuinne: I bet she’s really from Kenya. Maybe get Oily Taint to look into that.
Spaghetti Lee
Romania’s always been a haunting ground for blood-sucking vampires who think they’re superior to the lower classes. But enough about austerian bankers.
Dork
@Punchy: But what does Sullivan think of Oily Taint?
Violet
@the Conster: It’s the global wingnut percentage.
burnspbesq
Romania appears to be following the example set by Hungary of going back to a one-party, authoritarian state. Not good for anyone, especially the Romanian people.
the Conster
@Violet:
One out of four people in the world, everywhere you go, is a whackjob who’s beyond reason. That’s just fucking scary.
Steve
@Punchy: Escu means son. Ionescu is the Romanian version of Johnson, for example.
Another Halocene Human
@Comrade Dread:
This beats any comment I was prepared to make. Win.
Violet
@the Conster: Well, they may not be, but they’ll vote that way for sure.
Another Halocene Human
@burnspbesq: I was in Hungary last week (good food and Budapest is beautiful–highly recommend it) and they seriously need to get their head up outta they ass.
The visible presence of the government workers everywhere on transit was comforting, in a way. At least they haven’t been “rightsized” and contracted out.
Another Halocene Human
I should say, I was in Hungary (& Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia) on a bus-man’s holiday.
Public transit, baby. Public transit all the way. Until it was time to leave Budapest, then I had to take a cab because the bus I needed was cancelled without notice. FAIL LAME & WTF.
Another Halocene Human
@the Conster: You know when they were talking about slipping LSD in the water to loosen up all the tight-laced squares? Well, I wonder if a little Xanax would do wonders for the 27%.
What we need is a targeted therapy for their enlarged and inflamed amygdalas.
The Tragically Flip
The piece on Krugman’s site linked to above should be read before commenting. This looks like a pretty clear partisan abuse of impeachment powers.
The fruits of austerity are pretty fucking rotten. Another democracy falls into dictatorship?
Dork
This guy can be impeached by 1) public opinion while 2) doing nothing outwardly illegal or nefarious? Seems a little weak saucy.
Burnspbesq
Not sure whose delusions about the past are scarier: American Wingnuts or people in former Warsaw Pact countries.
mai naem
I don’t think the Romney donor from the previous thread would approve of these Romanian peasants.
Ash Can
@burnspbesq: Damn. Not good news at all.
Cain
I guess I was the only guy who read that as “Romulans”. Dammit.
Warren Terra
What PeakVT and burnspbesq said. It’s nice to see Austerity Worship being unpopular, but don’t let that blind you to the illegal power grab that’s going on in Romania. Some quotes from the Kim Scheppele piece Krugthulu hosted (and it’s a damn crime Dr. Scheppele’s previous series on Hungary has gotten no attention):
Read, as they say, the whole thing. And Scheppele’s previous Krugman-hosted posts on Hungary, as well.
Brachiator
The irony here is that it appears that Ponta is the one overstepping his powers. From the NY Times blog piece, it also looks as though Ponta is more interested in settling grudges and consolidating his own power than in rescuing his country’s economy.
What a mess.
Chris
@burnspbesq:
Having exhausted the left-wing dictatorships, Eastern Europe now turns to right-wing ones. Because those were so much better for Europe seventy years or so ago, amirite?
pseudonymous in nc
@Brachiator:
Romania’s had pretty shitty governance on all sides: the bloody end to Communist rule set that in motion. This is just another example, and left/right doesn’t matter here: it’s still shitty.
Most of the former Warsaw Pact nations are going through similar crises of reaction and recrimination right now; the question becomes how much of it gets locked in place institutionally, as has been the worry with Hungary — and what the EU does about it.
daveNYC
Yeah, I’m not sure that this is a good example of sticking it to the man or anything. From what I’ve read, this is similar to what the Republicans would be happy to do to Obama, if they had the votes.
daveNYC
Yeah, I’m not sure that this is a good example of sticking it to the man or anything. From what I’ve read, this is similar to what the Republicans would be happy to do to Obama, if they had the votes.
Doug M.
Sorry, DougJ, but you’re just wrong on this one. Yes, Basescu has supported austerity. But so has Ponta, the guy who is trying to impeach him. Pretty much the whole Romanian political establishment does, at least publicly — they don’t have much choice, because Romania is in hock to the IMF.
So this isn’t about impeaching a bad President who has supported bad policies. It’s about Ponta trying to (1) grab some power, (2) eliminate a much hated rival, and (3) distract attention away from his own unpopularity. Getting Basescu impeached would kill all those birds with one stone.
This is not to support Basescu. Basescu is kind of a whack job. But he hasn’t done anything worth being impeached for, and impeaching him won’t have any effect whatsoever on the country’s austerity policies.
No offense. But if you’re going to comment on another country’s politics, you should take five minutes with Google to educate yourself first.
Doug M.
John Weiss
@the Conster: I believe it’s one out of five. Perhaps I’m optimistic or read the stats wrong.
Anyhow, it’s too many. The herd needs a bit of selective thinning but I’m not volunteering to decide. Perhaps my cat would?
aretino
It’s worth reading the Scheppele piece, but with a critical eye. Don’t accept it as the writ of heaven just because on Kthug’s blog. Some of the actions of the conservative president and conservative-controlled Romanian state institutions smell very fishy. It is not typical for mostly ceremonial heads of state to represent governments at European Union meetings rather than heads of government. A power grab by a deep state of entrenched conservative apparatchiks looks to be as much or more of the story than a leftist parliamentary majority pushing the limits of power. The fact that the USL’s moderate coalition partners have signed on to their actions tells a tale in itself about where the real power grab lies here. I wonder if Scheppele isn’t trying too hard to provide a left-wing counterpart to the right-wing power grab in Hungary in order to get her analysis of the latter situation taken more seriously in CFR circles.