There could not possibly be any clouds on the horizon with the Dow and the S&P 500 setting all-time highs, while the German DAX is marching relentlessly towards 8,000 and the Japanese Nikkei is soaring. But just then, a deeply connected representative of the world’s real economy spoils the rosy scenario.
Central Banks
Total Fiasco: Germans are the Poorest, Cypriots the Second Richest in The Eurozone
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Total Fiasco: Germans are the Poorest, Cypriots the Second Richest in The Eurozone
In March, the ECB-organized Eurozone-wide household-wealth survey results trickled out. But when the Bundesbank refused to publish the German data, insiders leaked the reason: too explosive for the bailout era because Italian households were far wealthier than German households. Shocking! And a red herring. The truth turned out to be far more shocking.
The Fed’s Fear Scale: Holdings of Cold Hard Cash At A Record
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Fed’s Fear Scale: Holdings of Cold Hard Cash At A Record
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!
A “Politically Explosive” Secret: Italians Are Over Twice As Wealthy As Germans
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A “Politically Explosive” Secret: Italians Are Over Twice As Wealthy As Germans
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.
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.
Dow Hits New High, 59% of Americans Feel A Recession
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Dow Hits New High, 59% of Americans Feel A Recession
By the irony of timing, the Dow hit an all-time high as markets opened. Exuberance wafted through the air. Hype was flowing thickly. Happy days were back. New highs beget new highs. And everyone knew why: the Fed’s money-printing and asset-purchase operations. By the irony of timing… because 30 minutes later, kitchen-table reality polluted the scene.
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.
Lies, Damned Lies, And Banks: Deutsche Bank Caught Again
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Lies, Damned Lies, And Banks: Deutsche Bank Caught Again
Deutsche Bank, long coddled by the German government, is mired in “matters” from Libor rate-rigging to carbon-trading tax-fraud. Now a new “matter” seeped out: the bank had known for years about the impact of commodities speculation on food prices and the havoc it wreaked on people in poor countries. And it lied about it to the German Parliament.
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.