The immigration crisis of 2015 in Europe exposed the hollowness of the political system of the new millennium in the Old Continent, anguishing to cover the huge social cavities the economic neo-liberalism has created. Unfortunately, economic neo-liberalism didn’t lead to political liberalism, but instead to chauvinism, xenophobia and the insurgence of the extreme right wing […]Chauvinism and xenophobia will lead to global assertiveness and more wars
October 19, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The immigration crisis of 2015 in Europe exposed the hollowness of the political system of the new millennium in the Old Continent, anguishing to cover the huge social cavities the economic neo-liberalism has created. Unfortunately, economic neo-liberalism didn’t lead to political liberalism, but instead to chauvinism, xenophobia and the insurgence of the extreme right wing […]Yellen and Draghi tell Trump and markets not to expedite the next crisis
August 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The disappointment of financial markets with the lack of hints about monetary policy from the Jackson Hole gathering of central bankers is understandable. Both Janet Yellen, US Federal Reserve System Chair and Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank President while keeping their policy guidelines unchanged, choose to forcibly attack the demands of bankers – supported […]The ECB accuses the politicians of inaction, continues injecting billions to banks
July 13, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Saturday 8 July the Belgian newspaper De Standaard published an interview with Peter Praet, Member of the Executive Board and chief economist of the European Central Bank. Praet said it plainly “We do say that we still need a long period of accommodative policy before we are ready”. What he means by ‘being ready’ […]The ECB again takes care of the bankers not the people
May 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last week the European Central Bank surprised everybody by letting it be known that interest rates will “remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of our net asset purchases”. To be noted, presently, the main refinancing operations interest rate is zero. Of course, the markets […]If Macron defies Britain about the banks, Paris and London to clash over ‘La Manche’
April 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment
None of the two winners of yesterday’s first round in the French Presidential election, the pro EU banker Emmanuel Macron (23.9%) and the anti-EU and xenophobic Marine Le Pen (21.4%) is to make things easier for their country. However, the same is true for the British PM Theresa May. The latter’s decision to call an […]The London City-EU connection holds despite of Brexit and the ban of LSE-Deutsche Börse merger
April 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment
European Commission’s decision to ban the Deutsche Börse – London Stock Exchange merger, on the one hand solved a long list of problems it could have triggered, in view of and after the Brexit. On the other hand though, this decision has created probably as many issues, because London is the long established low cost […]Brexit kick-off: a historic day for the EU anticlockwise
March 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The beginning of the two-year negotiations is about to begin as UK submits today the letter to the EU today informing the latter about the decision of the British people to leave the bloc. However, it is still too early to say whether a deal will be reached within the timeframe that is set in […]Deutsche Bank chased away from US, threatened with more fines
December 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The US Department of Justice settled its claims against Deutsche Bank, the biggest German lender, for packaging and selling toxic mortgage securities to uninformed customers prior to the 2008-2010 financial crisis. Initially, the Justice Department had asked for $14 billion, but it seems it settled for a fine of $7.2bn. However, this is not the […]After the Italian ‘no’ and the Brexit, Germans must decide which Europe they want
December 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
There is no doubt that Europe is in disarray. The long standing malaise of high unemployment and economic stagnation has already mutated into critical political problems. The mutations of the European political ecosystem take various, unseen before forms. In the northern EU countries they invariably appear as extreme right or even semi-fascist political parties, inflated […]What will the US look like under Trump? Was his election campaign a big scam?
November 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Everybody agrees now that the President – elect Donald Trump won the 8 November election, by promising he will take good care of the Americans who are left behind in the era of globalization and of the global financial rackets. The first signs though indicate the opposite. His choices for the top Washington jobs are […]What the US and the world can expect from the 8 November election?
November 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
From Beijing and Tehran to Brussels and London, and further away to Mexico City and Caracas the night of 8 November will create a landmark in contemporary world history. The results of the US election and the new occupant of the White House in Washington D.C will certainly affect the way the world turns around. […]IMF – World Bank meetings: US – Germany clash instituted, anti-globalization prospects visualized
October 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
This year’s annual meetings of the IMF – World Bank Group in Washington D.C., which kicked off on Thursday 6 October, turned out to be an all out financial war of words between the United States and Germany. In the middle of it stands the battered Deutsche Bank. For a start, there was a confrontation […]The Americans are preparing for the next financial crisis
October 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week, Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in more than one ways revealed that the American central bank prepares to confront the next financial downturn. On Wednesday, 28 September, speaking at the House Financial Services Committee in Washington D.C. , she defended the Fed’s rigorous supervision over […]Deutsche Bank again in the middle of the US-EU economic skirmishes
September 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The US government is reacting in many ways against the fine in back taxes of €13 billion which the European Commission imposed on Apple. Firstly, Jack Lew, the American Secretary of the Treasury, accused the EU of grabbing tax incomes which belong to the US. On 31st August he said, “What’s not appropriate is for, […]Merkel refuses to consider the North-South schism of Eurozone
August 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European leaders who form the EU ‘directoire’ may get together as many times as they like, but still appear incapable of solving the club’s existential problems. Last Monday the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the French President Francois Hollande and the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met in Naples to relaunch Europe, after the Brexit. […]Deutsche Bank: the next financial crisis is here and the lenders need €150 billion from taxpayers
July 14, 2016 by 1 Comment
Last Monday David Folkerts-Landau, the chief economist of Deutsche Bank, the ailing largest lender of Germany, in an interview with the prestigious newspaper ‘Die Welt’ stated that European banks must be subsidized with €150 billion in rescue money to recapitalize. Obviously, it will be the taxpayers to once more provide the capital the euro area […]Brexit uncertainty keeps shaking the world’s financial markets
July 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The Bank of England (BoE) published yesterday its Financial Stability Report warning about the risks that the UK economy is facing after the Brexit vote on June 23. The uncertainty that Britain undergoes both economically and politically is something that the BoE takes into great consideration and aims to provide immediate remedies. While the sterling is hitting […]The Brits are not an exception and that’s why they voted to leave
June 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The choice made by a bit more than half of the adult Britons to exit the European Union has already triggered financial and political turmoil. In a short while the direct impact on people’s lives will start to materialize. Let’s count the most important adverse effects: the financial markets turmoil, the international trade fallout, the […]Why does the whole world want Britain to stay in the EU?
June 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Foreign leaders, countries, international bodies and major world entities of any kind are supporting the ‘stay’ option for Britain ahead of 23 June referendum, about the country’s position in or out of the European Union. The American President Barack Obama and the Chinese and the Indian governments have expressly supported the ‘stay’ option, to mention […]Unemployment and exclusion brings EU cities to boiling point
June 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday Eurostat, the EU statistical service release its latest estimates about the April unemployment rate and May inflation in Eurozone, which unfortunately didn’t diverge markedly from the gloomy predictions of analysts. This week however, the same source published a very interesting survey about the labor market situation in EU. It’s a special report about […]Conflicting statistics and bad banks haunt the Eurozone
May 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, released its flash estimate of the GDP of the first quarter of 2016, finding it, in both the Eurozone and the EU28, to be 0.5% bigger in comparison to the previous period. In the fourth quarter of 2015, GDP had also grown by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. Does […]Eurozone’s central bank leadership prepares for shoddier prospects
May 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It has become commonplace to state that the European economy still doesn’t fare well after six years of recession or practical stagnation. For good reasons however in the past few days the horizon looked particularly darkened. Negative statistical evidence and meandering statements by key people are indicative of that. Inflation or rather disinflation statistics, persistently […]Who cares more about taxpayers? The US by being harsh on major banks or the EU still caressing them?
April 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The world economy remains more or less motionless or even recedes six years after the financial meltdown, because the banking industry has not yet decided what’s best for its interests. Continue leveraging itself (borrowing) on central bank liquidity in a stagnating environment, or start deleveraging and send the world to another deep recession, if not […]The Monetary Union drives Europe into dangerous paths, CoR demands an EMU of regional content
April 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday 7 April, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) concluded that there is “No successful reform of the Economic and Monetary Union without a regional dimension”. Indirectly, this means the EMU remains a system just to support the banking industry. In other words, the banks are still completely unregulated, high flying and counting […]ECB’s new money bonanza handed out to help the real economy or create new bubbles?
March 14, 2016 by 1 Comment
Last Thursday the European Central Bank announced it will pump extra piles of freshly printed money into Eurozone’s banking system. The President of ECB, Mario Draghi said that he will be delivering €80 billion a month for the public bonds owned by banks for as long as it is needed. On top of this, the […]Pumping more money into banks but leaving them unregulated doesn’t help
March 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On Thursday 25 February, this newspaper concluded that “the other major central banks in Europe, China, Japan and elsewhere appear ready to fill the gap that the Fed plans to leave in the ‘money for nothin’ game”. This week’s developments completely justified this prediction. The immediate result is a new appreciation of the dollar with […]What have the banks done to the markets making them unable to bear cheap oil?
February 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday, a new steep fall of the price of crude oil by almost 5%, triggered another selloff in all the major capital markets of the world. The New York and the European stock exchanges lost anything between 2% and 3% of their capitalization. One may observe that this development is one of many of […]Can the next financial crisis be avoided?
February 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The descent of prices in the world capital markets continued almost unhindered this past week and only last Friday financial, oil and commodity values gained some limited grounds. Altogether however, the major stock markets have erased trillions off their capitalization since last June, when the dark clouds gathered above the Chinese mega-cities of Shanghai and […]Draghi drafts a plan to donate more money to bankers, the era of ‘money for nothin’ is flourishing
February 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European Central Bank announced last week that under its extraordinary Asset Purchase Program (APP), it has injected €712.3 billion into the euro area financial system until January this year. Out of that, €544.2bn are Eurozone government and public entities bonds, bought under the Public Sector Purchase Program (PSPP). This last plan was decided in […]Politics still matter in the US but not in Europe
February 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The Iowa US presidential candidate nomination race results in both the Republican and the Democrat vote, proved that in the US politics still matter. The populist, unpredictable and apolitical billionaire Donald Trump was largely defeated by Ted Cruz, a super conservative Texas politician. On the other side Hillary Clinton the champion of the American business […]Why are the financial markets shivering again?
January 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The major central banks of the world are currently in the middle of a precise but of dubious results surgical operation on capital markets. On the one hand, the monetary authorities aim at supporting the real economy by injecting more cash into the financial system. On the other, they try to mitigate the risky super […]WEF Davos 2016 LIVE: Banking moguls continue brandishing financial Armageddon to intimidate us all but in Davos they worry about the very distant future
January 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On Thursday 7n January this newspaper commented that behind the capital markets selloff, which shook the financial world in the first week of this year, were the financial moguls who want to impose their terms to central banks and mainly the American Fed. Since then stock markets keep losing a lot of grounds every day. […]EU to pay a dear price if the next crisis catches Eurozone stagnant and deflationary; dire statistics from Eurostat
January 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Amidst the historically worst first week of a year since stock exchange records exist, the Eurozone economy remains stagnant and appears clearly unable to offer itself and the rest of the global economy a sigh of relief. All along the first week of the New Year Eurostat kept airing quite disappointing statistics for the Eurozone […]
