The ECB and the national central banks of the Eurozone set out to collect “micro-level information” on household wealth. A massive bureaucratic undertaking. Surveys went out in 2010. Results are now ready. No one in Europe had ever done a survey on that scale before. And no one might ever do it again. Because, in the era of bailouts, the results are so explosive that the Bundesbank is keeping its report secret—and word has leaked out why.
Europe – Italy
The Eurozone Rift: It Would Be Wrong “To Give In To Panic”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Eurozone Rift: It Would Be Wrong “To Give In To Panic”
Euros entered circulation on January 1, 2002. For six years, they grew on trees in southern Europe. But the bubble got pricked. Since then, the monetary union has been in crisis. Almost half of its existence! Until suddenly, its problems were solved. But now confidence in the monetary union is weaker than ever. With a hue of resignation in Germany.
Fear of Nuremberg Trials For Corrupt Italian Politicians
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fear of Nuremberg Trials For Corrupt Italian Politicians
Former Italian senator Sergio De Gregorio confirmed: “The Cavaliere paid me,” he said about the €3 million he’d received in 2006 from Silvio Berlusconi. “Of course I took the money.” Frustrated with this daily display of corruption, 8.7 million angry Italians voted for Beppe Grillo’s 5-Star movement. While it wasn’t enough to govern, it was enough to give the political establishment conniptions—and show that anger and frustration finally count.
The Utter Fragility Of The Eurozone: Even Democracy Is A Threat
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Utter Fragility Of The Eurozone: Even Democracy Is A Threat
“I’m appalled that two clowns have won,” said the man who’d try to knock German Chancellor Merkel off her perch this year. He was referring to former comedian Beppe Grillo and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. One of them is “a professional clown who doesn’t mind being called that,” he explained; the other is “a clown with special testosterone boost.”
What Ferrari’s Glorious Results Tell Us About The World
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What Ferrari’s Glorious Results Tell Us About The World
The announcement couldn’t have been more glorious in crisis-struck Italy: Ferrari booked records sales and profits in 2012. Dazzling in every aspect. Not a single cloud darkened the horizon. Except in Italy where sales collapsed. And in the rest of the world, where central-bank printer ink stained the records.
The Putrid Smell Suddenly Emanating From European Banks
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Putrid Smell Suddenly Emanating From European Banks
The “Pauperization of Europe”
by Wolf Richter • • 7 Comments
It started on Monday. “Poverty is returning to Europe,” said Jan Zijderveld, head of Unilever’s European operations. The third largest consumer products company in the world was adjusting its commercial strategy to this new reality, he said, by redeploying to Europe what worked in poor countries of the developing world. Other stars of the industry affirmed it. “The logic of pauperization,” L’Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon called it.
Escalation of the Extortion Racket: Now It’s ‘The Dissolution Of Europe’ Not Just the Eurozone
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Escalation of the Extortion Racket: Now It’s ‘The Dissolution Of Europe’ Not Just the Eurozone
It has been an onslaught. Eurozone heads of state, top politicians, unelected kingpins, and bureaucratic honchos threatened everyone in sight with the demise of the euro, or promised to do “everything” or “whatever it takes” to save it even if it violated treaties or the foundation of democracy. In between the lines, the mammoth costs of continuing the bailouts or of breaking everything up oozed to the surface. But it got even worse.
But Who The Heck Is Going To Do All The Bailing Out?
by Wolf Richter • • 10 Comments
Spain’s banks are getting bailed out with €100 billion. It won’t be enough, but it’ll buy time—a Eurozone mantra. Three of Spain’s seventeen heavily indebted regions asked for a bailout from the central government, and more are coming, but the central government can’t bail out anything because it’s broke. It needs a bailout for itself and for its regions. A bailout far larger than any of the prior bailouts. And then there’s Italy.
Smashing The Can Instead Of Kicking It Down The Road
by Wolf Richter • • 1 Comment
“The euro is irreversible,” said ECB President Mario Draghi as a whiff of panic began sweeping over the Eurozone. Everybody was supposed to enjoy their long vacation, and nothing important was supposed to happen. But, like a group of disruptive homeless guys, the ECB, the International Monetary Fund, and politicians have apparently gotten tired of kicking the Greek bailout can down the road, and they stomped on it instead.