Final Word from Thursday, October 9, 2008
The premise of the full guarantee on private deposits issued by many EU countries, including now Slovakia, is that the state is the lender of last resort. If the full faith and credit of a stable Western government isn't enough to avoid a panic, there's no place else to go. As they say on Main Street, you might as well stick your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye. Unless, of course, you believe in a higher authority. Perhaps, to borrow from Hillary Clinton, "the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know that we should do the right thing." Maybe this explains Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek's pious refusal to accept the need in Europe for state guarantees on deposits. As one of the leading Christian ministers in the cabinet, perhaps he's waiting for the Red Sea to part. Trouble is that most Czech depositors are unbelievers.[Czech Republic nonbelievers atheists atheism KDU-ČSL]
Glossary of difficult words
in God we trust - official national motto of the United States;
premise -assumption, presupposition;
lender of last resort - an institution willing to lend credit when no one else will;
Main Street - as opposed to Wall Street; where the interests of everyday working-class people are represented;
higher authority - a superhuman being or spirit having power over nature or human fortune;
Hillary Clinton - this comment was made in allusion to Barack Obama as being Messiah-like;
pious - devoutly religious; sincere but unlikely to be fulfilled;
parting of the Red Sea - the division of the Red Sea by Moses to allow the escape from Egypt of the Israelites;
unbeliever/nonbeliever - atheist.