by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Mind-Game Of “Fixing” Europe’s Big Zombie Banks
Danièle Nouy, chair of the ECB’s newfangled bank regulator that doesn’t exist yet, had a term for it: “do whatever has to be done” so that the banking sector “is seen as sound and safe and transparent.” Is seen as…. Smoke and mirrors.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on German High Court Blows Up Euro, Says ‘Oh Wait,’ Abdicates
The ECB’s money-printing and bond-buying promise, lovingly dubbed Outright Monetary Transactions, became the bailing wire and duct tape that has kept the Eurozone together to this day. Turns out, it’s illegal under the EU treaties and unconstitutional in Germany.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Crazy Abenomics Orgy In Japan Is Ending Already – Pounding Hangover Next
Kudos to the Bank of Japan. Its heroic campaign to water down the yen has borne fruit. The people may not have noticed it because it’s not indicated on their bank and brokerage statements, but 20% of their magnificent wealth has gone up in smoke in 2013.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Why Japan’s Trade Fiasco Worries Me So Much
According to Japan’s state religion of Abenomics, devaluing the yen would boost exports and cut imports. The resulting trade surplus would jumpstart the economy and induce Japan Inc. to invest at home. It would save Japan. But the opposite is happening.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on So This Isn’t Exactly A Rosy Outlook For 2014, Or Something
Central banks rule! We’ve seen it in 2013. They’ve accomplished the impossible: separating stock markets from the economies they’re based on. But in 2014, the US and China are trying to unwind these crazy policies – without taking down the entire global economy.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on No Money, No Problem, Bank of Japandemonium Takes Care Of It
Just before Christmas when no one was supposed to pay attention, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ministers agreed on a budget for fiscal 2014. It’s a doozy. Instead of slowing down the fiscal fiasco, Abenomics is speeding it up. With an elegant solution.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This Ends In A “Planned Economy” – Bundesbank President
When Jens Weidmann, President of the emasculated Bundesbank, speaks, central bankers and money printers worldwide stuff wax into their ears. “Caution,” he started out, “the euro crisis is far from over.” Then he committed central-bank heresy.
