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A Central Banker Utters The Truth

by Wolf Richter • Jun 6, 2012 • Comments Off on A Central Banker Utters The Truth

On July 1, Cyprus, a tiny country on a divided island, will rotate into the Presidency of the Council of the mighty EU—one of those bitter European ironies because Cyprus will have to be bailed out, according to its Central Bank governor. Reality is now even staining the Teflon economy of Germany with a daily litany of suddenly awful data points. But a central banker pointed at an uplifting story of austerity and growth at the edge of Eurozone mayhem.

Argentina: Everything but the Kitchen Sink

by Bianca Fernet • Jun 6, 2012 • Comments Off on Argentina: Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Contributed by Bianca Fernet. Argentina is known for its myriad of protests against price increases, lack of wage increases, benefits for veterans, laws regulating the sale of goods on the street, lack of funding for schools, increases in subway prices…. These protests are accompanied by much more disruptive behavior than clanging pots and pans. Yet are treated as commonplace occurrences, like a minor traffic collision

Capital Destruction in Natural Gas

by Wolf Richter • Jun 5, 2012 • Comments Off on Capital Destruction in Natural Gas

Dirt cheap natural gas has done wonders for America. Bene-ficiaries are scattered across the country: households with lower heating bills, industrial users, utilities, companies dreaming of building LNG export terminals to benefit from prices that are several times higher in the international markets. Yet it’s tearing up the very industry that is producing it, and capital destruction has reached epic proportions. But the bloody end is near.

Everything is Getting Gummed up in Greece

by Wolf Richter • Jun 3, 2012 • 8 Comments

Tourism, Greece’s second largest industry after the shipping industry, and already in a downdraft, is taking another hit as tour-bus drivers will go on strike; wage negotiations have deadlocked. Owners demand that drivers take a 50% cut in pay and benefits on top of the 20% cut they’ve already suffered! And Greece is the model for Spain and Italy.

Argentina: Inflation all I ever wanted

by Bianca Fernet • Jun 3, 2012 • Comments Off on Argentina: Inflation all I ever wanted

Contributed by Bianca Fernet. When I first moved to Argentina, I would joke endlessly about the little old ladies in line at the supermarket who would issue a constant stream of complaints regarding the price of meat. To me, this seemed ludicrous. The price of meat was low compared to what I was used to in the States. Over time however, these abuelas have come to represent for me a transformation.

Squeezing The Fed From Both Sides

by Wolf Richter • Jun 2, 2012 • Comments Off on Squeezing The Fed From Both Sides

The ugly jobs report gave Mitt Romney what he’d been waiting for: a huge boost. He’s out making hay, calling it “devastating news for American workers and families.” An army of Republican talking heads swarmed over the land and pummeled President Obama with the jobs report. And just as Republicans see victory edge closer, shrill voices are calling for the Fed to launch the next round of quantitative easing. Collision alert!

Germany on the Verge: “Dispel This Fog,” begs Mario Draghi

by Wolf Richter • Jun 1, 2012 • Comments Off on Germany on the Verge: “Dispel This Fog,” begs Mario Draghi

Not a day goes by when Germany isn’t under heavy fire from outside interests, including Barak Obama who is facing a tough reelection campaign; and the last thing he wants is any crap flying across the Atlantic and messing up his speeches. They all want Germany to agree to whatever it takes to bail out the Eurozone, beyond the hundreds of billions of euros it has already agreed to pick up. And now it has to decide, but timing couldn’t be worse.

The Inexplicable American Consumer Hits A Wall

by Wolf Richter • May 31, 2012 • 7 Comments

The strongest and toughest creature out there, and maybe the smartest one, that no one has been able to subdue yet, the inexplicable American consumer has hit a wall. It showed up in a prosaic but ugly 8-K filing by Visa—a staggering and sudden shift that pundits tried to explain away somehow by referring to recent changes in debit card regulations. I mean, come on.

Bracing for a Euro Crash and Creating A Housing Bubble: The Swiss Caught in a Vice

by Wolf Richter • May 30, 2012 • Comments Off on Bracing for a Euro Crash and Creating A Housing Bubble: The Swiss Caught in a Vice

As developments in the Eurozone veered from bad to awful, with Greece on the brink and Spain getting closer, Switzerland, a speck with 7.9 million people surrounded by turmoil, is bracing itself, according to the President of the Swiss National Bank and long-time euro-skeptic Thomas Jordan, for the collapse of the euro. In the process, it’s creating a housing bubble with potentially horrendous consequences.

The President of the Bundesbank Lashes Out

by Wolf Richter • May 28, 2012 • Comments Off on The President of the Bundesbank Lashes Out

Jens Weidmann, President of the German Bundesbank, ventured into a veritable lion’s den with an interview in Le Monde, largest liberal daily in France, supporter of President François Hollande and his “growth” policies. And there, he lashed out at Hollande, the ECB, Greece, at everything that smelled of a transfer union, at Paul Krugman even.

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