Michael GoldfarbJanuary 4, 2012 08:27

Scandal threatens German president

Christian Wulff, a key ally of Angela Merkel, in trouble over questionable home loan and threats against papers reporting about it.

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Kai Diekmann, editor of Bild newspaper and recipient of threatening phone message from German president Christian Wulff (AFP/Getty Images)

Any politician worth his salt knows: you don't pick fights with the press when they are reporting on your personal finances. Fight them over big policy issues, not the interest free loan you got from a rich supporter to buy a house.

German president Christian Wulff clearly forgot that when he called the editor of Germany's largest selling paper, Bild, Kai Diekmann, to complain about coverage of a loan from the wife of a rich friend.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 3, 2012 09:56

Europe unemployment: lows and highs

Spanish unemployment continues inexorably upward, German joblessness continues to fall

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German Labor minister Ursula von der Leyen makes a point at a press conference where she announced a post-reunification record low level of unemployment. (ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

A tale of two Europe's: German unemployment down, Spanish unemployment up

Michael GoldfarbDecember 28, 2011 06:09

A tale of two nations: German optimism, British pessimism

German manufacturers say 2012 looks good, a new report predicts British unemployment rate will rise

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The euro may mean pain for some countries but it hasn't stopped Germany's star from continuing on the ascendant (BORIS ROESSLER/AFP/Getty Images)

German manufacturers say 2012 looks good, a new report predicts British unemployment rate will rise

Michael GoldfarbDecember 20, 2011 13:15

Europe: Markets easing up

Christmas? or a sense that perhaps the patient has stabilized?

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Santa is smiling in Germany. A respected study of business leaders published today shows optimism for the economy in 2012 despite the euro zone's woes. (Sean Gallup/AFP/Getty Images)

Christmas? or a sense that perhaps the patient has stabilized?

Michael GoldfarbDecember 14, 2011 07:27

Britain: Unemployment Up ... Living standards high?

The unemployment rate reaches 17 year high but a new study says Britain's standard of living is higher than Germany's

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Boarded up shop fronts in Rotherham in northern England underscore the rising unemployment rate but do they say much about Britain's statistically high standard of living? (Christopher Furlong/AFP/Getty Images)

Economic statistics paint a variable picture of life in Britain

Michael GoldfarbNovember 15, 2011 14:40

Europe: the wisdom of markets?

When it comes to pricing sovereign debt, can anyone figure out what the bond markets are thinking?

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Campaigners for minority party Equo hold election rally on steps of Bank of Spain in Madrid. Despite likelihood of a right-wing government winning this weekend's elections bond markets drove Spanish 10-year bond yields to record highs today. (CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP/Getty Images)

Do bond markets know what they're doing?

Michael GoldfarbNovember 10, 2011 06:47

Europe: can anyone save it from itself?

As Italian bond yields reach unsustainable highs and world markets begin to fall, Europe faces the worst crisis of leadership since August 1914. And we all know how that turned out.

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A statue to one of the fallen of World War I. Are today's European leaders as inept in guiding the continent through troubled times as those in charge in August 1914? (Peter Macdiarmid/AFP/Getty Images)

A snapshot of a moment in history:

November 10, 2011. Global stock markets are falling. The yield on Italian bonds continues to rise.

A German newspaper reports that Chancellor Angela Merkel is going to float the idea of re-writing the rules governing the euro zone at her Christian Democratic Union party meeting next week. At present there is no mechanism for countries inside the euro to leave.

Merkel reportedly wants a new treaty provision that defines the ways in which a nation can leave - or be asked to leave - if it doesn't meet the basic conditions of euro zone membership. You want to know the basic conditions?: an annual budget deficit no higher than 3 percent of GDP and a national debt lower than 60 percent of GDP. Italy's debt is currently 120% of GDP. Got the picture?

German authorities plant spyware on citizens’ computers

Siobhan DowlingOctober 27, 2011 12:19

BERLIN — It’s the stuff of modern nightmares...

Michael GoldfarbOctober 19, 2011 04:59

More down and up economic indicators in Europe and other stuff

Spanish debt downgraded amid hope that France and Germany have finally reached agreement on euro bailout. Plus other happenings around the continent

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Spain's Finance Minister Elena Salgado Mendez - is she praying for the ratings' agencies to understand her country's difficult debt situation? (DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

Pulling string around the continent:

Economy

Degradation: Spanish debt was was downgraded two notches to A1 by Moody's yesterday. This makes it a hat trick of downgrades, as Fitch and Standard & Poor's had already done the dirty to Spain. (more here for those who read Spanish)

Today's French papers are full of speculation that France's debt will be next. Moody's has put France "under surveillance."

Michael GoldfarbOctober 7, 2011 03:01

Shock and Awe: Bank of England announces a massive, new round of quantitative easing

With the euro zone and the U.S. economies seizing up Britain's central bank pours more money on the economic crisis.

British Understatement?

"This is the most serious financial crisis at least since the 1930s, if not ever."

So spoke Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England yesterday. You don't get to be head of Britain's central bank by indulging in hyperbole.