What Does “Primacy” Mean?

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

From Bloomberg News:

U.S. stocks tumbled yesterday after Germany’s announced its ban on naked short-selling. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will lobby governments to introduce a tax on financial markets, and for ratings companies to come under European supervision so governments regain “primacy” over markets. The euro is at risk and Europe may be facing its greatest challenge since the founding of the European Union, Merkel said

I boldfaced the word “primacy” because I believe it means “first in importance”.  Essentially, that means the State is upset because markets operate independently of government planning.  It sounds like Chancellor Merkel is trying to play with her superhero action figures again.  It won’t work; the markets are demanding competition among currencies to better reflect the risks and opportunites of sovereign nations.

It gets better:

“Policymakers are determined to protect the euro zone, and they have identified the financial markets as the key obstacle for stability, which implies risks of further regulation,” Erik Nielsen and Dirk Schumacher, economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., wrote in a report.

I boldfaced the phrase to show you how crazy this is.  Could you imagine the Yankees blaming the scoreboard as its key obstacle to victory?   None of this will work.  A competing global currency will re-emerge.  Then they’ll steal it.