No debacle is allowed to interfere with Chancellor Merkel’s efforts to hang on to her job, and debacles get swept under the rug at least until after the elections on September 22. Every time uppity opposition voices stir up some controversy, it’s brushed off, denied, ridiculed, or minimized – and it has worked admirably well so far. But suddenly there’s Greece again.
Euro
Germany Grapples (Again) With The Choice Between Its Constitution And The Euro
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Germany Grapples (Again) With The Choice Between Its Constitution And The Euro
During the hearings before the German Constitutional Court, Finance Minister Schäuble, perhaps unwittingly, put his finger on yet another fatal flaw of the Eurozone: a central bank that could bail out speculators and pile the resulting losses on taxpayers of other countries, no questions asked, whenever it felt like it, without controls – “to save the euro,” as it were.
The ECB’s Forked-Tongue Policy To Save The Euro
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The ECB’s Forked-Tongue Policy To Save The Euro
In theory, Germany’s Constitutional Court could throw a monkey-wrench into the efforts to keep the Eurozone duct-taped together; it could rule against the ECB’s money-printing and bond-buying mechanism, lovingly dubbed OMT, that would create a “brave new Huxley-world of the unlimited debt,” a world where “money is no longer earned but printed.”
‘ECB’s Desperation Is Taking On Epic Dimensions’
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on ‘ECB’s Desperation Is Taking On Epic Dimensions’
In my interview with Voice of Russia, I talk about the ECB’s fears for its own existence. I use Spain, which is stuck in an existential crisis, as an example of the greatest “achievement” of central banks: the separation of economic reality from stock markets. And I get a chance to lambaste the French finance minister who is once again barking up the wrong tree.
Germany ‘Second Economic Miracle’ And Other Psychedelic Feats
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Germany ‘Second Economic Miracle’ And Other Psychedelic Feats
At first blush, the German economy appears to be ailing – at first blush because the stock market, in its omniscient manner, is predicting wondrous developments as it hop-scotches from one all-time high to the next. This relentless optimism has morphed into a breeding ground for projections into outright magnificence. But inconvenient data is getting in the way.
The Spanish Unemployment Powder Keg
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Spanish Unemployment Powder Keg
Austerity succeeded in trimming the bloated government sector. But instead of picking up the slack, the private sector destroyed jobs almost four times faster! The hope is that this fiasco will finally reverse course, that something will click and start a virtuous cycle before the unspeakable happens. But so far, it has relentlessly gotten worse.
Germany’s Trial Balloon Of A “Plan B”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Germany’s Trial Balloon Of A “Plan B”
Those close to the epicenter of power, those near Chancellor Merkel, have to toe the line on the euro – it’s far more than just a currency, it’s a sacred concept worth saving no matter what the costs. While the possibility of a small country’s exit from the euro has been accepted, the euro itself has been inviolable in those circles. Until now. An insider offered a “Plan B”; and the euro’s life is limited to five years!
The Gloriously Ballooning Bailout Bedlam Of Cyprus
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Gloriously Ballooning Bailout Bedlam Of Cyprus
The average Cypriot household had a phenomenal net worth of €670,900 in 2010 – over three times that of German households. That wealth had been sucked out of the cesspool of corruption that the banks and the government were, until neither had a drop of lifeblood left. Now the party is over. And you can almost hear the snickering among European politicians.
A Line Of Demarcation Through The Eurozone Is Taking Shape
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A Line Of Demarcation Through The Eurozone Is Taking Shape
Everyone learned a lesson from the “bail-in” of Cypriot banks: Russians who’d laundered their money there; bondholders who’d thought they’d always get bailed out; Cypriot politicians whose names showed up on lists of loans that had been forgiven; even Finance Minister Sarris. His lesson: when a cesspool of corruption blows up, no one is safe. And German politicians learned a lesson too: that it worked!
The Stunning Differences in European Costs of Labor: Or Why “Competitiveness” Is A Beggar-Thy-Neighbor Strategy
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Stunning Differences in European Costs of Labor: Or Why “Competitiveness” Is A Beggar-Thy-Neighbor Strategy
The ominous term “competiveness” is bandied about as the real issue, the one causing Eurozone countries to sink deeper into their fiasco. To address it, “structural reforms,” or austerity, have been invoked regardless of how much blood might stain the streets. And a core element of these structural reforms is bringing down the cost of labor.