September 22, 2007 (LPAC)--As American economist Lyndon LaRouche recently stated, the only thing more stupid than raising interest rates, would be lowering them--and the only thing more stupid than lowering them, would be raising them. The crisis is beyond interest rate issues. Observers might make the same parallel between France's President Nicholas Sarkozy and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, in their spat over the European Central Bank's interest rate policies.

The occasion for this observation would be nearly simultaneous statements on interest rate cuts made by Sarkozy and Merkel. On Sept. 20, Sarkozy told French TV that he had the right to criticize the European Central Bank, because the ECB had allowed the European economy to "sink" by not cutting interest rates. The ECB, he said, should follow the example of the U.S. Federal Reserve: "When the Federal Reserve cuts rates, things get better (sic). When we don't cut ours, we sink," Sarkozy stated, according to the Financial Times. Last night, German Chancellor Merkel said that she would prevent any state attempt to influence monetary policy, at a dinner honoring the 50th anniversary of the Bundesbank.