The eurozone crisis shows up Cameron and Osborne

Greece veered last night from the democratic possibility of a referendum to the opposite extreme of a political conspiracy against their voters.

If we have consensus, then we don't need a referendum

said Mr Papandreou. How will that play out on the streets?

The Telegraph's lead story in its printed edition is worrying in its economic illiteracy. It's regrettable that the paper's political editor doesn't understand what's wrong with the eurozone; but alarming that this probably reflects what ministers and their flunkies are whispering in his ear.

President Obama makes the impossible statement that

The most important aspect of our task over the next few days is to resolve the financial crisis here in Europe.

Is this the mindset, that the great minds can resolve the crisis? This is not just wrong, it's too ridiculous to waste time on fisking.

The story starts by referring to "concerns that the EU plan to save the euro will not be enough to stabilise the world economy".

What? This too is lunacy land. There is no EU plan to "save" the euro (well, not for a few weeks), and even if there were, there's plenty of other stuff to destabilise the world economy.

But Cameron's seeming determination to push more UK money at the IMF makes sense only if he actually believes these statements. Otherwise it's weak-minded rank profligacy.

Later, the story claims

The cost of a full eurozone rescue has been estimated at almost £2trillion.

Leave aside the the "almost", ludicrous in its spurious precision, ludicrous in the breathlessness of the political editor's whisper of such privileged "information". Repeat after me: no amount of money can bring about "a full eurozone rescue" - unless it's enough to fund the debt requirements of the club med economies until the end of time. That's not going to happen, even under these bigheads. And if it did, why would countries outside the eurozone stump up the commitment, which they would only ever see increase?

It's one thing to stand outside the eurozone and advise ever closer union when it's not our money on the line. It's quite another when we volunteer a financial stake.

Mr Osborne said that taxpayers from around the world, including those in America and China, would be "exposed" under the plan.

If we are to be "exposed", we have to know the exposure makes economic and financial sense. It plainly doesn't.

The strongminded, with their feet on the ground, have worked out the basis for their position before they arrive. The weak are swept along by the presence of political celebrities.

This wouldn't matter if Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne were just pledging the fortunes of their rich families, like investors in the Lloyds insurance market. But it's our money - money we haven't got, by the way. We sign an IOU in support of a patently incoherent eurozone policy constructed by bullies who are hostile to us - and what do we get back in return for throwing our money away? Apparently nothing.

We are, indeed, all in it together - thanks to these weak fools.

UPDATE Richard North reminds us

As we see the world slip into a cooling cycle, the great tragedy is that we do not have the politicians with the wit and courage to admit they are wrong, and row back on the accumulated stupidity and waste which marks twenty years of policy failure.

Yes there's a pattern here.