Germany

I want to make clear the significance of the Treasury's Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan for Chrysler if Fiat pulls out.  It will mean massive job losses and and a huge down-tick in consumer demand.  There will be no second half recovery.…

Press reports coming out of Germany are suggesting that the Germans are looking to hook up Opel with Fiat in order to prevent a lot of job losses when General Motors goes under.  In my view, this means curtains for both Chrysler and GM and…

This past Sunday Felix Salmon wrote a post called "10 reasons for the lack of German econobloggers." I found it inaccurate and offensive. Let me tell you why. I was in Germany at the time I read the post and had been there for the…

There is quite a buzz in the German press about Hypo Real Estate. But, what should really get oe's attention is its massive off-balance sheet exposures (hat tip Ulrich). The long and short of reports is that Hypo Real Estate has assets…

This video does not mention Austria by name, focusing instead on Ireland, Spain and Greece, but Austria is more of the problem for the Germans as they are leveraged to Eastern Europe. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck became the…

This morning, Commerzbank, based in Frankfurt, Germany, released earnings, showing a loss of 809 million euros, which was better than expected. Shares are rallying in European trading as a result. However, the big news was the draconian…

When the euro was introduced about ten years ago, the pessimists didn't give it much chance of reaching its tenth anniversary. The euro, or so the argument went, was doomed from the outset because of the wide spread in economic performance…

A few months ago, the Germans were very resistant to the notion that Germany would also suffer greatly in this global downturn. Yet, as the months have past, it has become increasingly apparent that exports from Germany and retail spending…

I am skeptical as to the economic benefits of the Eurozone. In my view, the Euro has always been more of a political construct than an economic one. Nevertheless, the Euro has functioned quite well as a leading international currency in the…

This just in from the German daily Der Spiegel: German banks are still loaded with risky U.S. assets, only a fraction of which has been written down. If this report is true, it suggests that the entire German banking sector is extremely…