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.
Europe
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.”
The Unthinkable Happens: A Former TBTF Bank Chief Goes to Jail
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Unthinkable Happens: A Former TBTF Bank Chief Goes to Jail
Contributed by Don Quijones: Just when you thought the concept of universal justice was dead, a courageous Spanish judge, Elpidio José Silva, did what no other judge in the Western world, bar Iceland, dared to do: He refused to grant bail to a former top banker, sending him to prison before facing trial for his alleged role in Spain’s financial crisis.
Morgan Stanley’s Penny-Stock Shenanigans in Spain
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Morgan Stanley’s Penny-Stock Shenanigans in Spain
Lobbying And GMO Giant Monsanto Buckles In Europe
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Lobbying And GMO Giant Monsanto Buckles In Europe
The “March Against Monsanto” in 52 countries, an unapproved strain of its genetically modified wheat growing on its own in Oregon, cancelled wheat export orders…. A rough week for Monsanto. Now it threw in the towel in Europe where its deep pockets and mastery of lobbying had failed: “It’s counterproductive to fight against windmills,” it explained.
French Consumer Confidence Plunges To Financial-Crisis Low
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on French Consumer Confidence Plunges To Financial-Crisis Low
The confidence of consumers in France is catching up with the economic situation in their country, where the state sector, which dominates the land with 56% of the economic activity, has been hobbled by budget woes, and where the private sector, which is struggling with an inscrutable labor code and slack demand, is suffocating under a pile of new taxes.
The Financial Takeover of “Our” Newspapers
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on The Financial Takeover of “Our” Newspapers
Black Market or Bust: The Stark Choice Facing Many of Spain’s Self-Employed
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Black Market or Bust: The Stark Choice Facing Many of Spain’s Self-Employed
Contributed by Don Quijones: As bank lending has dried up, Spain’s government has barely lifted a finger to help struggling self-employed workers or small enterprises. Instead, it apparently made it its mission to make their working lives as difficult as possible by ramping up their tax burden to historic highs.
Government by Eurocrats: The EU Olive-Oil Dispenser Debacle
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Government by Eurocrats: The EU Olive-Oil Dispenser Debacle
Like so many debacles in the EU, it started with the unelected European Commission. It’s immune to voters, but not to lobbyists and corporations. Under the guise of “consumer protection” or some other harmless moniker, it generates zany laws that tend to benefit large corporations. But last week, it went too far, even for Europeans.
Germany Fires Shot In China-EU Trade War … At Brussels
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Germany Fires Shot In China-EU Trade War … At Brussels
The solar-panel industry, once fattened by taxpayer subsidies and false hopes, has been in a death spiral around the world. In the US, a slew of photovoltaic standouts like Solyndra went under, taking billions of subsidies and investor capital with them. In Germany, it has been just as brutal. Even large companies are licking their wounds.