Austria

As I await the US jobless claims numbers this morning, I am thinking about the international news broadcasts I listened to overnight. I think it's time to turn to a more global focus and get a sense of how countries around the world are…

Impeachment In the last couple of weeks, at the expense of other thoughts, I have been consumed by the impeachment proceedings going on in the United States. I guess this is a byproduct of my having been born in, growing up in and now…

Since 1974, the European Commission has published a twice-yearly comprehensive poll to gauge sentiment on various social and economic issues in the European Union. Today, I downloaded every one of these polls and have been busy parsing the…

The big topics in today's newsletter are immigration in Europe, US jobs numbers, Tesla's expansion plans, monetization of WhatsApp, and US consumer confidence

I believe, as many economic analysts do, that global growth is accelerating. Backing that up, two days ago I looked at four economies where growth has been good. But, yesterday, I looked at four economies where growth has been poor and big…

According to an account in the Financial Times last week, the latest rate cut by the ECB created a worrying north-south split, with the German-centered group opposing rate cuts and the southern faction wanting them. Today Austrian and…

The German-language media have been voicing concerns over the ECB’s low interest-rate policy and its effect on savings and investment in the euro zone. This makes sense given the state of the economy in Germany and Austria is significantly…

Last year I predicted that the route that Europe would go would be fiscal integration coupled with explicit mechanisms for allowing an exit from the euro zone. For example, in November during the Italian crisis I wrote: I continue to…

This week's second weekly-length post is just another review of the Price Waterhouse Coopers study that is big news in the German press. I have now seen the numbers in a bit more granular detail and I wanted to run through them for me…

My view is that the euro zone sovereign debt crisis will end in a combination of monetisation, breakup or default. Let's review why.