Market Currents
Germany's economy is beginning to show signs of recovery after probably shrinking in Q4, the...
-
Monday, January 21, 6:27 AM ETGermany's economy is beginning to show signs of recovery after probably shrinking in Q4, the Bundesbank says. "The largely stable labor market and a better outlook for output suggest that the economic weakness won't last all that long," the bank says. "Companies' expectations have noticeably improved, particularly the estimation of export opportunities,"
Other date
Latest Articles
This news story has 7 comments:
I'm slightly confused by your contribution.
1. The EU is not a monetary union. Monetary expansion of € will have little direct effect on say the UK or Sweden.
2. The Eurozone has experienced brutal monetary expansion via the ECB LTRO vehicle.
3. It has never been proven that CB balance sheet expansion has created jobs in the US, UK, or Europe.
4. The longer term repercussions of monetary expansion are unforeseen and uncontrollable.
5. CBs and especially the Fed have an extremely poor track record in recognising and reacting in a timely fashion to bubbles.
6. Monetary policies are not a fix-it-all for different economies around the globe.
7. Currently Germany is by far the healthiest large western economy and has just declared a budget surplus.
8. Ironically, Germany's success over the last 4 years is very much the result of unsustainable US and UK profligacy directly and indirectly via China and other exporters to the US as well as other net importers.
German consumption and real wages have been flat-lining for over 10 years. GDP growth came solely over export growth, which has only been possible because of unsustainable consumption of its importing trading partners.
So should the US actually try to live within its means, it will directly hit China and Germany hard. And Germany hard indirectly again as Chinese demand for industrial machinery and consumer goods wanes. Reminder: China has the largest trade deficit to other nations with Germany.