BRUSSELS | By Ann Mettler | The worst response to the Italian elections would be not to speak the truth, to cave in to the idea that somehow “austerity” is to blame for the current woes, that once again breaking the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact would somehow improve the situation.
BRUSSELS | by Eberhard Rhein | However important balanced budgets might be for Europe in view of its rising social charges, in particular the huge burden resulting from an ageing population, Germany does not deserve praise for having precipitated the balancing of its budget.
GENEVA | France fell four places from third in 2011 to seventh, while Spain climbed to fourth from eighth.
By Marcus Nunes, economist and author | If you followed the results of the Italian general election, you would probably be wondering: what will happen to the “growing investor confidence” the European Commission was talking about?
LONDON | Behind the option of recovering the public investment made in Lloyds TSB, a possibility sounded today by Whitehall amid better priced bank stocks, there is the European Central Bank. But British taxpayers will probably never know.
Why should banks enjoy the comfort of placing money in the Frankfurt-based central bank for risk-free profit? They should instead letting it flow. After all, businesses are starved of cash to hire and invest.
In the current environment of huge indebtedness and low inflation, with sizeable unspent resources, a strong euro adds insult to injury.
Uncertainty is driven by a scenario with lower growth rates for GDP, trade, capital formation and employment, and by a number of perceived risk factors related to the Eurozone crisis, and the United States fiscal cliff.
By Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank | “The greatest danger, unless something is done, is that social tensions scale and political radicalism grows in Europe, with unemployment pushing young people against the institutions and the private sector telling the public sector that enough is enough.”
Deficit per GDP reduction in cold blood increases the debt per GDP ratio. We have been there, already. The sensible thing to do is to finance economic growth to shorten the deficit, even if it prolongs for a certain period the increase of debt.