Europe

The Australian

German polemic has resonance for West

04/12/2010
When a German language book causes a global stir, it must be of relevance beyond the narrow national confines. This explains the scores of articles dedicated to Deutschland schafft sich ab (Germany abolishes itself). Written by former politician and central banker Thilo Sarrazin, it covers topics such as the effects of the welfare state on the country’s underclass, demographic change and the ageing society, the failure of public education, and the problems of integrating Muslim migrants.

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Business Spectator

The Euro monster

02/12/2010
Over the past three years we have had to get used to numbers with lots of noughts. Stimulus packages, bank bailouts and public debt figures have reached dimensions well beyond the imagination of the average person. It also appears that dealing with these fantastic sums on a daily basis has led policymakers to lose perspective. What else could explain current speculation that the Euro rescue fund may have to be expanded?

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Business Spectator

Europe’s growth-killing cult

25/11/2010
By putting an overemphasis on risk, Europe has turned itself into an inward looking, stagnant society. No wonder that path-breaking research increasingly happens outside the EU.

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Business Spectator

Europe’s most dangerous man

11/11/2010
In their open confrontation with the Americans and other European countries, the Germans have good arguments on their side. Trade restrictions are certainly not the way out of the world economy’s problems; and to prevent moral hazard, bondholders need to bear the costs of defaults.

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Business Spectator

The EU’s win-win losers

04/11/2010
The next acute crisis of a Eurozone country may happen sooner than EU leaders think. It is only then when we will see what their new celebrated compromise is worth in practice.

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Speeches

Europe’s decline, Australia’s challenge

26/10/2010
When we are looking at Australia today, we can be pleased that we have so far avoided many of Europe’s problems. Our debt still looks manageable. Our demography is still healthy. Our society is still united. But Australia could end up like Europe – under different stars, but with the same destiny.

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Business Spectator

Sarkozy’s Ides of March

21/10/2010
For months, the French republic has been shaken by growing resistance to president Nicolas Sarkozy and his plan to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 years. Whether the new pension system is eventually implemented or not, the tumultuous scenes in the streets of Paris, Marseille and other big cities leave only one conclusion: France is an unreformable country.

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Business Spectator

Grave euro doubts remain

19/08/2010
The stronger the fears about a double-dip recession in the US grow, the better it looks for the euro. Only a few months ago, experts were discussing the possibility of a quick break-up of Europe’s monetary union. The same experts have now shifted their attention to the US dollar. However, this does not mean that the euro is off the hook. Far from it.

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Business Spectator

The Italian omen

12/08/2010
Europe’s problems remain painfully real. But it was wrong to believe that they would inevitably lead to a cataclysmic crisis. It now looks as if it’s going to be much worse. There is never going to be a solution, just a slow, ongoing decline. Not a purgatory from which there is an eventual escape route to heaven, but a Dantean inferno with its famous inscription above the gates: ‘Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate’ – ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.’

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