See video below. Investor Hugh Hendry understands George Soros: “The richest people on the planet become socialists”; “Socialism is when you build a moat around the castle.”

Mr. Hendry is responding to a recent Bloomberg interview in which Soros decried German determination to cut their deficit spending (Imagine their arrogance!). Citing the “needs” of other countries, Soros apparently wants the Germans to go on a spending binge and boost the EU economy:

    “When all the member countries try to be like Germany they are bound to send the euro zone into a deflationary spiral.”

    “…Germany is endangering the European Union,” Soros said. “I realize that this is a grave accusation but I am afraid it is justified. To be sure, Germany cannot be blamed for wanting a strong currency and a balanced budget but it can be blamed for imposing its predilection on other countries that have different needs.”

Hugh talks about the impact of exchange rates for a minute or so, then returns to the subject of Europe at about 4:30, so keep watching. Here’s a little background on the next comments: It’s been estimated that the ten-year experiment that we call the European Monetary Union has cost Germany over $1 Trillion in de facto subsidies to its neighbors, as its productive economy has supported the Euro currency union’s less-productive Club Med. That wealth transfer is accelerating as the need to stave off a Greek default becomes more pressing. The German people are sick of it. They also know that the EU bailout is becoming recognized as not being big enough (yet), and they know what that means. Billions of Euro continue to flow across the German/Swiss border in search of Swiss Francs and gold bars, both of which are to be kept outside the Eurozone in Swiss banks.

Hendry:
“Great Germans want to get rid of all the political class that represent them. Today in Europe we have a new Axis of Financial Evil. It is German and French bureaucrats and politicians who are determined to destroy the wealth and the hard working entrepreneurs that we find on this continent.”

Sound familiar?

An interesting side note: Euro currency is marked with a serial number that includes a letter that indicates the country of the issuing bank. There have been numerous reports of people cashing checks in German banks and going through the bills looking for the “X” designator, then immediately swapping ones issued by some other nation for German ones.