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.
Europe
Cyprus And The Eurozone Bank Bailout Hypocrisy
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cyprus And The Eurozone Bank Bailout Hypocrisy
Cyprus didn’t prick the Eurozone bailout bubble, the notion that bank investors who took enormous risks to gain financial rewards would always be made whole by taxpayers. That bubble had already been pricked in February. But it was the first time that the international bailout cabal, the Troika, stuck its needle into it—while Germany quietly bailed out all investors in one of its own rotten banks.
Cyprus Crisis: A Triumph For Russian Isolationists
by Contributor • • Comments Off on Cyprus Crisis: A Triumph For Russian Isolationists
Contributed by Valentin Mândrăşescu, Editor of Reality Check @ The Voice of Russia. The mainstream media usually presents a very unbalanced view on the events in which Russian interests are involved. The “Cypriot bailout” is no exception. These messages are wrong, and they miss the most interesting part of the story. I can tell that in Moscow there are many people who are jubilating right now. Their wildest dreams have come true.
A CEO Explains Why He Sold A German Soul To the Chinese
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A CEO Explains Why He Sold A German Soul To the Chinese
Putzmeister was a paragon of the German Mittelstand—family-owned firms with innovative technologies and high-quality manufacturing that dominate their niches worldwide. But in 2012, it was acquired by a Chinese giant. Now its German CEO reveals just how impossible integration is and how dire not only Europe but the world look to him, particularly China.
Will the Real Clowns Please Stand Up?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Will the Real Clowns Please Stand Up?
Contributed by Don Quijones: Italy has Beppe Grillo. But with European governments reeling from self-inflicted crises, and the euro debacle descending into a tragi-comic farce, one wonders who the real clowns are – especially here in Spain, where ministers gorge themselves on the public purse, leaving behind a trail of evidence so obvious that even the mainstream media can’t ignore it.
Growth Industry In France: Hounding Companies For Back Taxes and Penalties
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Growth Industry In France: Hounding Companies For Back Taxes and Penalties
For corporate welfare queens that know how to leverage worldwide tax systems, France offers a free ride. But as the French government tries in a vain and desperate effort to make ends meet, it’s not only going after multinationals and their tax optimization schemes but also smaller companies that are gasping for air. Revenues from aggressive collections—“not far from blackmail,” an insider says—have jumped, one of the rare areas of growth in France.
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!
The Reality Of Doing Business In Spain: A Personal Account
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on The Reality Of Doing Business In Spain: A Personal Account
Contributed by Don Quijones: The stark reality facing millions of Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, and Portuguese is hidden, buried deep under a mountain of economic data, massaged to suit the purposes of the central planners-in-chief. But this is the story of a dying breed: self-made entrepreneurs and small business owners here in Spain.
Potential Cost Of A Nuclear Accident? So High It’s A Secret!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Potential Cost Of A Nuclear Accident? So High It’s A Secret!
Catastrophic nuclear accidents, like Chernobyl or Fukushima, are very rare, we’re told incessantly. But when they occur, they’re costly. So costly that the French government, when it came up with estimates, kept them secret. But the report was leaked: an accident at a single reactor in a thinly populated part of France could cost over three times France’s GDP.
Is The End Of The ‘Coercive Euro Association’ Taking Shape In Germany?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Is The End Of The ‘Coercive Euro Association’ Taking Shape In Germany?
Anti-euro movements have been squashed by political establishments across the Eurozone. Then Italy happened. Two anti-austerity parties captured over half the vote and threw the status quo into chaos. It stoked a fire in Germany where Chancellor Merkel’s bailout policies have hit resistance. Now the heat is on to dissolve the “coercive euro association.”