The ECB and the national central banks of the Eurozone set out to collect “micro-level information” on household wealth. A massive bureaucratic undertaking. Surveys went out in 2010. Results are now ready. No one in Europe had ever done a survey on that scale before. And no one might ever do it again. Because, in the era of bailouts, the results are so explosive that the Bundesbank is keeping its report secret—and word has leaked out why.
Euro
The Eurozone Rift: It Would Be Wrong “To Give In To Panic”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Eurozone Rift: It Would Be Wrong “To Give In To Panic”
Euros entered circulation on January 1, 2002. For six years, they grew on trees in southern Europe. But the bubble got pricked. Since then, the monetary union has been in crisis. Almost half of its existence! Until suddenly, its problems were solved. But now confidence in the monetary union is weaker than ever. With a hue of resignation in Germany.
Fear of Nuremberg Trials For Corrupt Italian Politicians
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fear of Nuremberg Trials For Corrupt Italian Politicians
Former Italian senator Sergio De Gregorio confirmed: “The Cavaliere paid me,” he said about the €3 million he’d received in 2006 from Silvio Berlusconi. “Of course I took the money.” Frustrated with this daily display of corruption, 8.7 million angry Italians voted for Beppe Grillo’s 5-Star movement. While it wasn’t enough to govern, it was enough to give the political establishment conniptions—and show that anger and frustration finally count.
The Utter Fragility Of The Eurozone: Even Democracy Is A Threat
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Utter Fragility Of The Eurozone: Even Democracy Is A Threat
“I’m appalled that two clowns have won,” said the man who’d try to knock German Chancellor Merkel off her perch this year. He was referring to former comedian Beppe Grillo and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. One of them is “a professional clown who doesn’t mind being called that,” he explained; the other is “a clown with special testosterone boost.”
By Midyear, Europe ‘Can No Longer Live With This Euro’
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on By Midyear, Europe ‘Can No Longer Live With This Euro’
“I’m sitting on cash,” Felix Zulauf said when he was asked in an interview where he was putting his money. With decades of asset management experience under his belt, he’d founded Zulauf Asset Management in Switzerland in 1990. But now he was worried—and has turned negative on just about everything.
LEAKED: Mario Draghi And His Triumvirate Shut Up German Finance Minister To Keep Cyprus From Blowing Up The Eurozone
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on LEAKED: Mario Draghi And His Triumvirate Shut Up German Finance Minister To Keep Cyprus From Blowing Up The Eurozone
The state-sponsored chorus about the end of the debt crisis is deafening. It even has feel-good metrics: the “Euro Breakup Index” fell to 17.2%. In July, it stood at 73%. For Cyprus, fifth country to ask for a bailout, it fell to 7.5%. “A euro breakup is no issue anymore,” the statement says. Just then, top Eurocrats expose what a con game they think these bailouts really are.
CEO of German Multinational: Costs Of Monetary Union Too High
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on CEO of German Multinational: Costs Of Monetary Union Too High
Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement—one of the world’s largest producers of construction materials with nearly 55,000 employees at 2,500 locations in over 40 countries—lashed out against European politicians and their inability to bring budgets under control. But he reserved the most devastating judgment for the euro itself.
Russian “Black Money” Threatens To Boot Cyprus Out Of The Eurozone
by Contributor • • Comments Off on Russian “Black Money” Threatens To Boot Cyprus Out Of The Eurozone
German Bailout Chancellor Merkel, who is trying to avoid any tumult ahead of the elections, has a new headache: Cyprus might default and exit the Eurozone. Using taxpayer money to bail out the corrupt Greek elite or stockholders, bondholders, and counterparties of banks, or even privileged speculators, is one thing, but bailing out Russian “black money” is, politically at least, quite another.
The EU Bailout Oligarchy Issues A Report About Itself
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The EU Bailout Oligarchy Issues A Report About Itself
On Friday before Christmas when nobody was paying attention, when people were elbowing their way through department stores or heading out for vacation, the European Commission issued its report on bank bailouts in the European Union—a dry document with mind-boggling numbers that left out the most important fact.
A Revolt Against Corporate Welfare Programs For Multinationals In France
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A Revolt Against Corporate Welfare Programs For Multinationals In France
“Paradox” is what the New York Times called France’s ability to attract more foreign investment than any country other than China and the US. A paradox because it shouldn’t. Investors should be scared off by labor laws, tax rates, the cost of labor, and mud-wrestling bouts over nationalizing some industrial plants. But turns out, multinational corporations pay practically no income taxes in France. And it has reached the boiling point.