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.
Europe
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.
The Quiet Triumph Of Oil And Gas In Obama’s Policies
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Quiet Triumph Of Oil And Gas In Obama’s Policies
‘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.
When Flight Safety Gets Outsourced To China
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on When Flight Safety Gets Outsourced To China
Aircraft maintenance was a highly paid blue-collar job that required education, training, manual skills, and brains. It was one of the perfect American middle-class jobs with generous healthcare, retirement, and vacation benefits; and free flights! They were working for icons like Delta, American Airlines, Continental, TWA, or Pan Am. Icons indeed!
The EU’s Out-Of-Control Intelligence Services That Everyone Pretends Don’t Exist
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The EU’s Out-Of-Control Intelligence Services That Everyone Pretends Don’t Exist
Officially, the EU doesn’t have an intelligence service. It’s dependent on the national intelligence services of its members. Officially. In reality, it is building an intelligence apparatus of six services, populated already by 1,300 specialists, some operating overseas, with vast databases at their fingertips. Much of it beyond any kind of democratic control.
Starving the World for Power and Profit: The Global Agribusiness Model
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Starving the World for Power and Profit: The Global Agribusiness Model
Contributed by Don Quijones: A daily ration of bread is now beyond the reach of roughly a billion people on planet Earth. What’s more, hunger is spreading like a pandemic, making incursions from its traditional strongholds in the global south to towns and cities across depression-hit Southern Europe. In Greece….
Class-Action Lawsuits Come to France
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Class-Action Lawsuits Come to France
In theory, a class-action lawsuit allows the little guy to stand up to a big corporation and seek redress. Alone, the little guy wouldn’t have the means. Justice comes down to money, and class-action lawsuits add leverage. In theory. It’s a world-famous American product, infested with flaws. And it’s about to be imported by … France!