To save $2 billion in some distant year—at least that’s the official story—GM bought 7% of French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën. Perhaps it hoped that the alliance would bail out its bleeding subsidiary Opel. But what GM bought into was one of the most uncompetitive automakers in one of the toughest auto markets in the world. And there is no happy end in sight.
The Big Rift Between Germany and France
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Big Rift Between Germany and France
The crowd at the Place de la Concorde in Paris on Sunday, one week before the first round of elections, had come to hear French President Nicolas Sarkozy beg for his job. And politicians were listening warily … in Germany. He’d already shocked them in March when he’d declared that he wanted to renegotiate the Schengen Treaty. Now he went after the independence of the European Central Bank. Germany’s answer was swift.
Those Scammers on Wall Street
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Those Scammers on Wall Street
Tokyo, June 1996. Wouter the Dutch guy’s words course through my head like a refrain in a traveler ballad: You’ve got to go to Russia, you’ve got to go see Inga in Irkutsk. And I’m researching the first steps in that direction at the Maruzen Bookstore in Ochanomizu, which has a gaijin corner with a Lonely Planet shelf. I pull out Russia. But next to it are other evocative titles, like Vietnam, China, and Mongolia.
Suddenly A Nasty Fight over Subsidies for Nukes in Europe
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Suddenly A Nasty Fight over Subsidies for Nukes in Europe
The meltdowns at Fukushima that have caused so much havoc have also paralyzed Japan’s nuclear power industry. The last of its 54 reactors will be taken off line in May. “Deindustrialization” grips power-starved Japan. TEPCO, owner of the plant, is bailed out with trillions of yen in taxpayer money. And now, halfway around the world, in the EU, nuclear power is lining up to suck at the teat of the taxpayer, but ingeniously, those in other countries.
A Greek Impossibility: 2 Millions Missing Jobs
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A Greek Impossibility: 2 Millions Missing Jobs
It’s not like the hapless Greeks—and by extension their foreign sponsors—don’t already have enough problems on their hands. Now comes the Hellenic Statistical Authority with its just released Labor Survey that showcases a job market and unemployment issues that were the ugliest ever. And within this sobering picture there was one number that knocked the breath out of hope itself.
A Grimy Dipstick into France’s Gritty Economic Realty
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A Grimy Dipstick into France’s Gritty Economic Realty
The first quarter of 2012 was brutal for businesses in France: 16,206 filed for bankruptcy. A trajectory that may demolish the prior annual record set in 2009 during the financial crisis when 61,595 firms went bust. Since then, bankruptcy filings eased off. Now the direction has changed—and worse, it is hitting larger companies and a lot more jobs. But the French have a solution, one that would violate fundamental rules of the EU.
Radiation: Once Again Ballyhooed As Safe … Until Oops!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Radiation: Once Again Ballyhooed As Safe … Until Oops!
It’s always the same thing: for decades they tell us there’s no problem with radiation from x-rays or other sources; the doses are so minuscule and infrequent that it would be like…. And they come up with some hoary example, such as “a 42-minute walk outside.” Decades later, after millions of gullible or option-less people have been exposed to it, a new study comes out linking that very type of radiation and those doses to some nasty disease
Big Brother Everywhere
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Big Brother Everywhere
A friend, who was installing Skype on a new computer, was baffled when Skype suggested contacts that weren’t on his Skype contact list but in his address book. Turns out, apps are gateways that pilfer voluminous personal information, not only address book data but also … sexual preferences. Nothing is safe. And not just of the user but also of his or her friends. And now the government is trying to catch up in the race to get our information.
Deer Sashimi
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Deer Sashimi
The Real Reason For Deflation in Japan
by Wolf Richter • • 4 Comments
Japan was a shockingly expensive country twenty years ago. Back then, the US government pushed Japan to open up its markets, and it is still pushing, in some sectors with little success. But over the years, Japan has become less restrictive to imports. The result: more competition and lower prices—but surprising barriers remain, and some prices are still astoundingly high.