European car sales recently hit a 20-year low, with German car sales plunging almost 10% for the most recent month.
The large German bank, Deutsche Bank, is reported to have less than 2% capital, so it’s levered almost 60 times (when Bear Stearns went under it was levered over 40times), exposing the bank and the country to significant risk. Germany’s main trading partners are experiencing either slowing or outright contractingeconomies.
Meanwhile,the German stock market is near all-time highs.
Spanish homeprices fell another 6% last year. Spanish unemployment is near 30%, with youth unemployment over 50%. Spanish loan default rates are skyrocketing.
Meanwhile,Spanish government bonds keep going up in price, down in yield.
In the U.S.,median wages are declining. Taxes are rising. Healthcare costs are increasing.Education costs are through the roof. Most of the new jobs created are low wageand part time. And the central bank must print hundreds of billions of dollars a year to boost people’s confidence (and the bank’s profits).
Meanwhile,U.S. equity markets are at all-time highs?