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Dangerous posture [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

European Commission President Jose Barroso put forward a "roadmap" aimed at bringing an end to the European debt crisis in the European Parliament on Oct. 12, of which the effects will be uncertain. Three international credit rating agencies lowered the sovereign credit ratings of Italy and Spain as well as the credit ratings of several European and U.S. banks a few days ago, and euro zone finance ministers have postponed a decision about giving Greece bailout loans until early November. Thus, the European debt crisis situation is still serious.

Meanwhile, the European and U.S. debt crises are developing into a political and social crisis spreading to the West. German people have marched to protest the bailouts to the debt-ridden euro zone state members, while people in countries including Greece, Spain and Italy have marched to protest fiscal budget and benefit cuts.

The Slovakian government has been forced to resign because of the European debt crisis. What is worse is that one month of "Occupy Wall Street" movement has expanded and spread throughout the United States and Western countries, showing a trend for long-term "occupation" and deterioration.

The financial, economic and sovereign debt crisis as well as mass protests in the Western community has reflected an institutional crisis in the world dominated by financial oligarchs. The European and U.S. debt crisis have resulted from the long-term accumulation of contradictions in the political and economic systems of European countries and the United States.

First, the financial oligarchy dictatorship of the United States is becoming more obvious in recent years. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the U.S. financial crisis in 2008 were both caused by the financial oligarchs that dominate the policies of the U.S. government in order to obtain monopolistic super profits and played a core role in creating and shifting the crisis. They ruthlessly steal and plunder the wealth from the people in the United States and around the world and leave only misery to them.

Second, the election system in Western countries forces the politicians to pay attention to winning elections. This requires them to focus on short-term political considerations rather than long-term national interests. In order to get votes, they would increase their national debts without hesitation to raise the social welfare level, leading to large financial deficits of their governments.

Third, the United States' long-term high-deficit development mode and the large and still increasing military expenditures aimed at pursuing the global hegemony are the direct causes of the U.S. debt crisis. Fourth, the euro zone cannot overcome the contradiction between its unified currency and separate financial systems. Some member countries have had high deficits for a long period due to their high welfare policies. These are the direct causes of the European debt crisis.