Part of the phenomenon can be explained merely by the severity of the downturn. If this were a recession it would be a bad one – worse than any since the Great Depression. Consumers have rediscovered thrift. Households are cutting back.
July 28th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | ContinuedEurope
Commentary on European economics, politics and society by your Daily Reckoning editors in Melbourne, Australia. Still haven’t subscribed to the Daily Reckoning? What are you waiting for… sign up here, it’s free!
A chronological listing of articles is below.
England Sinks Deeper into Depression in Decade of Pain
“Decade of pain predicted for public services,” was the headline on Friday’s Guardian from London. The reason for the decade of pain is the obvious one. Tax receipts are down – because of the depression. Governments are caught in a bind.
July 28th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Global Credit Shortage is Over According to European Central Bank
That all sounds like common sense. So why are so few policy makers using their head? The people who hope the global economy can be revived through a resumption of credit growth seem to forget that it was massive credit growth that created the problem (massive global imbalances, huge debt levels, and mal-investments) in the first place.
July 23rd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
The Swiss and the Rich
Pity poor Yu! Pity the poor rich…! Here at The Daily Reckoning, as long-term DR sufferers know, we always take the part of the underdog. We almost never saw a lost cause that we didn’t want to join. We admire die-hards…and we like the company of scalawags.
July 7th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Hyper-Deflation on the Streets of Paris
Scarcely a block from our office in Paris is a monetary phenomenon that has escaped the financial press. In one of the highest-cost economies in the world, you can buy a woman’s shirt for 2 euros. A dress? Four euros. A man’s jacket can be had for the price of a cup of coffee.
June 29th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 19 comments | Continued
Ben Bernanke “Respectfully Disagreed” With Angela Merkel
Our heroine, Angela Merkel, made the front-page news yesterday. She stood up against almost every mainstream economist, politician, and central banker in the world – and gave them all hell.
June 5th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
French Model of Economy Allows Meddling from the State
The French think they were right about everything. Iraq, for example. The French have deep ties to the Arab world. They knew Iraq would be a tar baby for the US – just like Algeria had been for them. You pick it up…you can’t put it down.
June 3rd, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 6 comments | Continued
Eurozone Drops GDP Bombs
The eurozone unveiled some nasty economic news early this morning. For starters, Germany dropped its first-quarter 2009 GDP number…
May 18th, 2009 | Ian Mathias | 0 comments | Continued
Whiskey & Gunpowder
For the present, there is hardly anyone who is an immediate advocate of joining the euro, though there are plenty of europhiles who would expect Britain to join the euro at some future date. At the same time, the euro has become more attractive to the weaker European currencies which are outside the Eurozone…
February 26th, 2009 | William Rees-Mogg | 4 comments | Continued
An Irish Bond Bomb
More people are beginning to see States in a different light. Rather than seeing states as the (most of the time) democratically elected representatives of the people, people see something much more feudal. They see a set of elites who achieve and maintain their position by looking out for the economic interests of a small group of elites, including themselves…
February 19th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued