PRIDE GOETH BEFORE THE FALL – AT 8:12 A.M. ET:  The president of Volkswagen has resigned after disclosures that his company installed software in its cars designed to get around emissions standards.  It is considered a major scandal in a country, Germany, that has tried to portray itself as a great moral leader.  From The New York Times:

BERLIN — As Germany has emerged as the dominant actor in Europe, it has lectured Greece and other debtor nations on the virtues of thrift and lately wagged its finger at countries that balk at receiving a share of refugees from the killing fields of Syria. Its right to lead, based on a narrative of self-sacrifice and obedience to rules, was generally acknowledged.

That is one reason the Volkswagen scandal has shaken the country’s very core. More than just a tale of corporate misdeeds, the disclosure of systematic cheating by one of Germany’s most iconic companies has delivered a sharp blow to its conception of itself as an orderly nation and tarnished its claim to moral leadership of the Continent.

It was perhaps inevitable that Volkswagen’s chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, would quickly step aside on Wednesday after disclosures that the company deceived regulators over emissions from its diesel cars. But the effects on Germany are likely to play out for some time, even as it copes with a huge influx of migrants attracted by its reputation as Europe’s beacon of opportunity and as it continues to find its footing as an often-ambivalent global power.

Further, the timing puts Germany in an awkward spot ahead of the global climate conference in Paris in December, where it had hoped to hold out its transformation as an industrial power reliant on a lower-carbon energy system as a model to the world.

COMMENT:  Always suspect those who are holier than thou.  We've also seen the ugly picture recently of German officials rushing to Tehran to grovel before the murderers to get business contracts. 

September 24, 2015