We all now belong to a Banana Union.

Two common traits of a „Banana Republic“ are : The lack in Rule of Law regarding regulatory issues. And, the second, the blaming of “others” for our current state.

Firstly, as in all politics, the rabble rousing public will be greeted by a Chancellor, or quasi King or Queen, or Il Duce himself, waving and shaking hands and firing up public sentiment. It is still so and will always be so. For that is politics.

Merkel, the Chancellor, has now come out in an iron-fisted fashion to the joy of many, and the chagrin of others. “ We will get those tax evaders!” If only those damn statutes and laws were not in the way which make it a slippery road at best.

The entire basis, or reason d’etre, for the Rule of Law – the following of the law – is that democratic States do not become dictatorships or, to coin a phrase, Banana Republics.

But how often do we repeatedly see the twisting of words, or the outright lying by governments to get what they want? Invasions of countries based upon dubious evidence, the torturing of prisoners, and countless other examples of State Power to justify their means.

It is not that I am for or against tax evasion by citizens. That is not the relevant point. Winston Churchill once said : “Make 10,000 laws and one begins to lose all respect for the law”. The point is : a State based on Rule of Law and democratic principles must adhere to its own laws, no matter how uneasy.

By cooperating with stolen goods, the German government is making itself an accessory to blatant criminal activity, namely, that of illegally copied data from Swiss banks. Yes, Merkel makes for good headlines by stating to “go after tax evaders”, but think about the consequences.

Pandora’s Box is now opened for more and more cases of the State justifying whatever legal or illegal methods it wants to use in order to chase a certain activity. This is a slippery slope to the Rule of Whatever-The-Crowds-Want. And it is dangerous. Yet, who are we as purely private citizens with limited financial means to actually go up against the State in such legal matters ? No, I say, by going down this road, the German government is no better than a Banana Republic making up the rules as it sees fit for any particular purpose. Germany should know better.

As for Greece, and the Euro fiasco, the Greece government has systematically lied to the European bureaucrats as to its fiscal situation. Billions have been hidden off balance sheet. The state of Greece’s financial situation is another blow to the European Union.

By systematically turning a blind eye to Greece’s situation, the EU has done us all a serious disfavour.

Greece recently stated that it may be speculators who are hurting Greece’s finances and the Euro. Oh really? By implying such, the Mr Papandreou statement is a ruse at best and an outright affront to any fairly intelligent person. The trick he is invoking, is that such a claim serves a useful legal function because it may allow Greece to invoke Article 122 of the Lisbon Treaty, which clears the way for EU help to any member "in trouble for reasons outside its own control." So, will Greece be bailed out by rest of the European Union, mainly Germany with its large yearly transfers to the ECB ?

We don’t yet know how this Greek Tragedy will be finished.

But for a State which has systematically lied and put out disinformation about its fiscal health, a serious dose of “Trust is Good, Control is Better” might be necessary for the Euro to garner strength and trust.

Because, at the end of the day, financial markets are all about TRUST. Just remember, trillions of taxpayer euros, dollars, pounds, have been spent by governments to bail out banks which acted illegally and irresponsibly … and then go on to cash in billion dollar bonuses and the lawmakers just look on … and take no recourse whatsoever. In fact, it was the State itself, which pushed for a taxpayer bailout. Trillions of your money. Trillions.

And the Ministry of Finance is worried about some tax evaders ? It is not a nice thing to say, but the envisioned $100 million in back taxes which might only possibly be recovered is like a drop of water in the ocean compared to the trillions in bank bailouts, all done at the behest of the German government.

All in all, democratic states rely on solid morals and principles and Rule of Law. Once these are given up for populist “witch mongering”, the door is open for anything to be interpreted any way. For right or wrong, good or bad.