Contributed by Don Quijones: Italy has Beppe Grillo. But with European governments reeling from self-inflicted crises, and the euro debacle descending into a tragi-comic farce, one wonders who the real clowns are – especially here in Spain, where ministers gorge themselves on the public purse, leaving behind a trail of evidence so obvious that even the mainstream media can’t ignore it.
Monthly Archives: March 2013
Growth Industry In France: Hounding Companies For Back Taxes and Penalties
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Growth Industry In France: Hounding Companies For Back Taxes and Penalties
For corporate welfare queens that know how to leverage worldwide tax systems, France offers a free ride. But as the French government tries in a vain and desperate effort to make ends meet, it’s not only going after multinationals and their tax optimization schemes but also smaller companies that are gasping for air. Revenues from aggressive collections—“not far from blackmail,” an insider says—have jumped, one of the rare areas of growth in France.
Housing Bubble 2 Forms: But This Time It’s Different
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Housing Bubble 2 Forms: But This Time It’s Different
We have seen it for several years now: foreclosure sales—there were 5 million since the peak of the housing bubble—have become the hunting grounds for investors with two goals: hanging on to these homes until the Fed’s flood of money drives up their value; and defraying the expenses of ownership by renting them out. And…
The Fed’s Token Voice Of Reason: Megabanks Undermine Americans’ Faith In Democracy
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Fed’s Token Voice Of Reason: Megabanks Undermine Americans’ Faith In Democracy
At the CPAC, as Republicans struggled with the future, some speakers drew crowds of over 1,000 people. But Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher was shuffled off to “an out-of-the-way ballroom” with barely two dozen people showing up; yet he’d talk about “the injustice of operating our economy under the thumb” of too-big-to-fail banks.
IMF: Eurozone Banks Are In Trouble, Trample Taxpayers and Democracy To Bail Them Out!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on IMF: Eurozone Banks Are In Trouble, Trample Taxpayers and Democracy To Bail Them Out!
At The Confluence of Free Money, Pent-Up Demand, And Reality
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on At The Confluence of Free Money, Pent-Up Demand, And Reality
New vehicle sales have staged a phenomenal recovery from the financial crisis, when buyers went on strike. Sales below the replacement rate create a vacuum that wants to be filled. Pent-up demand. When it kicked in, sales jumped by over 10% annually. Exuberance took over the bludgeoned industry. But late February, something happened to that vacuum.
The Reality Of Doing Business In Spain: A Personal Account
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on The Reality Of Doing Business In Spain: A Personal Account
Contributed by Don Quijones: The stark reality facing millions of Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, and Portuguese is hidden, buried deep under a mountain of economic data, massaged to suit the purposes of the central planners-in-chief. But this is the story of a dying breed: self-made entrepreneurs and small business owners here in Spain.
Potential Cost Of A Nuclear Accident? So High It’s A Secret!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Potential Cost Of A Nuclear Accident? So High It’s A Secret!
Catastrophic nuclear accidents, like Chernobyl or Fukushima, are very rare, we’re told incessantly. But when they occur, they’re costly. So costly that the French government, when it came up with estimates, kept them secret. But the report was leaked: an accident at a single reactor in a thinly populated part of France could cost over three times France’s GDP.
Is The End Of The ‘Coercive Euro Association’ Taking Shape In Germany?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Is The End Of The ‘Coercive Euro Association’ Taking Shape In Germany?
Anti-euro movements have been squashed by political establishments across the Eurozone. Then Italy happened. Two anti-austerity parties captured over half the vote and threw the status quo into chaos. It stoked a fire in Germany where Chancellor Merkel’s bailout policies have hit resistance. Now the heat is on to dissolve the “coercive euro association.”
Top American CEOs About Job Creation: Not Happening Here
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Top American CEOs About Job Creation: Not Happening Here
CEOs of the largest US corporations, without aiming at it, shot barn-door-size holes through the rosy jobs picture. Rosy on the surface: unemployment down to 7.7% with 236,000 new jobs created last month. A picture the White House held up as proof of its success. But these CEOs didn’t see it. Not in the US. Though prospects were rosy in cheap countries.