Europe

Gagging Doubt: French Crackdown On French And American Bloggers Who Question Megabank Balance Sheets

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Gagging Doubt: French Crackdown On French And American Bloggers Who Question Megabank Balance Sheets

France’s Financial Markets Authority slapped fines on two bloggers, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Chevallier and American Mike “Mish” Shedlock, “for having spread inexact information about the level of indebtedness” of megabank Société Générale. Instead of going after banks, bank regulators are going after bloggers! It’s more convenient.

Extortion Over Minimum Wage In Germany: BMW, Daimler, VW Threaten to Offshore Production

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Extortion Over Minimum Wage In Germany: BMW, Daimler, VW Threaten to Offshore Production

Germany has neither a minimum wage nor a government. Someday it might. If not, there will be new elections, and Chancellor Merkel might get pummeled because she’d be blamed for them. So she’s trying to form a coalition with the left-leaning SPD on whose list of campaign promises was a decent minimum wage.

Catalan Politician Does Unthinkable, Threatens Spain’s Creditors

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Catalan Politician Does Unthinkable, Threatens Spain’s Creditors

By Don Quijones: There are things politicians should never do – assuming they want to hold on to their jobs. Using the dirty “s” word (sovereignty) is a definite no-no. Also high up on the list of “don’t dos” is threatening the interests of foreign creditors and bondholders.

EU Citizenship Goes On Sale, Price War Breaks Out

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on EU Citizenship Goes On Sale, Price War Breaks Out

The huddled masses yearning to breathe free in the EU drown by the boatload in the Mediterranean. They languish in detention centers in Greece and elsewhere. They’re maligned, hounded, sometimes killed. But it’s getting cheaper and easier for the rich.

German Industry Dreads Getting Slammed By The Costs Of Green Energy

by Oilprice.com •  • Comments Off on German Industry Dreads Getting Slammed By The Costs Of Green Energy

By Scott Belinksi, Oilprice.com: In Germany, where renewable energy has been aggressively pushed, companies may soon lose an exemption from expensive renewable energy surcharges. Business leaders worry this will “destroy Germany’s industrial core.”

Spain, No Country For Young Men

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Spain, No Country For Young Men

By Don Quijones: Despite a miraculous economic “recovery,” EU-wide youth unemployment hit 24%. New records were set in Spain (56.5%), Greece (57.3%), Italy (40%), and France (26%). The warnings from history are clear: governments that allow youth unemployment to escalate, do so at their own peril.

Are You Overweight EU Equities For The Big Recovery Yet?

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Are You Overweight EU Equities For The Big Recovery Yet?

There has been a symphony of calls for American investors to plow their money into European stocks. So, net inflows into European equity funds have set records, driven by euphoria about a presumed recovery. Equities soared. But turns out, reality has bad breath.

Nobel Peace Prize, Asylum for Snowden: Germans Turn Up Heat

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Nobel Peace Prize, Asylum for Snowden: Germans Turn Up Heat

While the US government wants to get its hands on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and crucify him properly, the German government remains red-faced and tangled up in its own underwear. Yet among Germans, and their politicians, support for him is surging.

OMG, Those “Who Truly Rule The World”

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on OMG, Those “Who Truly Rule The World”

Most powerful person in the world? Putin! Sez Forbes. At least, it wasn’t Merkel, who has been throwing her weight around when she found out that her Handy had been bugged by the NSA, just like our cellphones. We have to take it; she gets to make a big stink and gripe to Obama on the (bugged) phone.

Portrait of a Kleptocrat

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Portrait of a Kleptocrat

For a certain segment of the population in Spain, albeit quite a small one, life has never been better.