From the beginning of this foreign spying scandal the consent manufacturers at The New York Times have cockily dismissed the thought that the incipient trans-Atlantic trade negotiations could be effected. "Still, a deal is in everyone's interests" they editorialized back then. And Friday some woman wrote for them that any "threats" to the deal from these European "powerless" "bystanders" were "empty." They're probably right. Money is the most important thing to Americans; it's probably the most important thing to Germans, too. Germany today is "basically a creation of the United States" and its World War II allies. What can they do? So, stop bitching, Merkel, just bend over and take it.