Privatizing state-owned companies has been all the rage in France since the mid-nineties, by socialist and conservative governments alike. But the morass in the private sector has stopped that. Now nationalization is being brandished as a solution—again—though the state still owns a big chunk of the private sector. The dominoes are lined up. Last week it was ArcelorMittal. Today it’s one of the world’s largest shipyards.
Europe
Censored: Poverty Report in Germany
by Wolf Richter • • 4 Comments
In September, the German Labor Ministry sent a draft report “on Poverty and Wealth” to other ministries to be rubber-stamped. Only the final report would be made public. The draft was to remain hidden. But it seeped to the surface immediately. And it was hot. Too hot. Now a new version leaked from the Economy Ministry—without the offending data and comments.
“The Euro Will Blow Up Europe Instead Of Bringing It Together”
by Wolf Richter • • 7 Comments
“I cannot be disillusioned because I no longer have any illusions about Europe,” muttered Euro Group President Jean-Claude Juncker last week after the horse trading over Greece’s bailout had failed once again. But he isn’t the only one who lost his illusions. “There are better alternatives to the bailout policies of Chancellor Merkel,” declares the man who’ll run against her in 2013; alternatives that “protect taxpayers and don’t only benefit the banks.”
Lehman Brothers Rears Its Ugly Head In Germany
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Lehman Brothers Rears Its Ugly Head In Germany
A Lehman Brothers kerfuffle erupted, this time in Germany, in broad daylight. With a stunning amount: up to €800 million ($1.04 billion) in fees for the insolvency administrator. It blows away the German record of €70 million. Hedge funds are raising a ruckus, on the surface to shame the insolvency administrator into backing off. It worked. Almost. But suddenly, there are new allegations—against the hedge funds.
Stimulating The Public Sector, Suffocating the Private Sector: A French Dichotomy
by Wolf Richter • • 6 Comments
Moody’s, when it stripped France off its AAA rating, had a laundry list of laments that were a reflection of the awful details seeping from every crack in France’s picturesque veneer: relentlessly rising unemployment, declining production and orders, collapsing automobile sales, plunging home sales…. You’d think France is in a depression. Yet, third quarter GDP edged up by 0.2%. What gives?
Sacrificing The Will Of The People On The Altar of The Euro
by Wolf Richter • • 10 Comments
The Eurozone debt crisis is exacting its toll. Convoluted undemocratic taxpayer-funded bailouts of bondholders and banks designed to keep the Eurozone together can’t kick the can down the road far enough. But the price has been huge, and people have expressed their anger in massive protests. Now, these efforts are also tearing up the fabric of the 27-member European Union: the first one out may be the UK.
Putin and Merkel Tango in Moscow, Gazprom Stirs Up Old Ghosts, But Deals Are Signed
by Wolf Richter • • 2 Comments
Last week, the German Parliament passed a resolution that asked Chancellor Merkel to needle Russian President Putin about the resurgence of repressive, antidemocratic tendencies in Russia. It did not go unnoticed at the Kremlin. And it paved the way, so to speak, for her trip to Moscow on Friday—to re-cement their “strategic partnership.”
The Curse Of The “Irreversible” Euro
by Wolf Richter • • 4 Comments
Young educated Greeks face a wall of unemployment. With little chance of finding a job in their field, they’re competing for any kind of job. Wages have plummeted. The economy has shriveled by 19.4% since 2007. Promises that education would open doors to a better future have evaporated. And Germans march around, telling Greeks how to run their country. Because the euro has become a religious dictum.
Bundesbank Slaps Fed In The Face
by Wolf Richter • • 2 Comments
“Yellen and Cisco lift US stock futures,” the headline read enticingly in the morning. Priceless. Their pronouncements were driving up the markets. But by the time the markets closed, the manipulative power of Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellen had dissipated; the DOW was down 1.45%. And across the Atlantic, the German Bundesbank issued a tough warning about the very policies Yellen was propagating.