Europe – Other
EU Citizenship Goes On Sale, Price War Breaks Out
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on EU Citizenship Goes On Sale, Price War Breaks Out
A Taxpayer Revolt Against Bank Bailouts In the Eurozone
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A Taxpayer Revolt Against Bank Bailouts In the Eurozone
Bank bailouts have made owners of otherwise worthless bank debt whole through a circuitous process by which taxpayers transferred their money to investors. Even in Greece. Even a bank that had siphoned off $1 billion through fraud and embezzlement. It wasn’t fair. But fairness had nothing to do with it. That’s how bailouts were done. Until now.
The Putrid Smell Suddenly Emanating From European Banks
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Putrid Smell Suddenly Emanating From European Banks
Sweden’s Euro Hostility Hits A Record
by Wolf Richter • • 3 Comments
As the Eurozone flails about to keep its chin above the debt crisis that is drowning periphery countries, and as the European Union struggles to duct-tape itself together with more “integration,” that is governance by unelected transnational eurocrats, Sweden is having second thoughts: never before has there been such hostility toward the euro.
Beer, A Reflection Of The World Economy?
by Wolf Richter • • 7 Comments
As a kid in Germany, I engaged in underage beer drinking. I was too young to drive, so it didn’t bother anyone, except me the next day. It was when German beer consumption peaked at 151 liters per capita, the highest in the world. But then I went to America … and German beer consumption took a multi-decade dive. In the US and other Western countries, the beer industry is now morose as well, but it’s booming elsewhere.
Belgians Get Cold Feet As Bailout Queen Dexia Drags Them Toward Abyss
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Belgians Get Cold Feet As Bailout Queen Dexia Drags Them Toward Abyss
Bailout queen Dexia, the mega-bank that was bailed out twice in three years, turns into a nightmare for the tiny Kingdom of Belgium, which guaranteed a pile of debt, nationalized local subsidiaries, and bailed out the rest of the financial sector. Exposure: €162 billion—41% of GDP! And now Dexia announces monumental losses. But finally there is resistance.
CEO of Dexia: ‘Not A Bank But A Hedge Fund’
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on CEO of Dexia: ‘Not A Bank But A Hedge Fund’
Regulators Knew of Dexia’s Problems But Were Silenced
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Regulators Knew of Dexia’s Problems But Were Silenced
When a bank is allowed to collapse, the lies behind its financial statements come out of the woodwork—and Dexia, the bailed-out French-Belgian mega-bank that re-collapsed in early October, is no exception: a report surfaced with the damning results of an earlier investigation by French regulators. And then? Nothing.