from the hip

While the economic downswing is still making itself felt in the US, it is now also hitting several European countries hard. And inflation is soaring, and hit a record high of 4.1 percent last month.

“There’s no obvious trigger for strong economic growth in Europe until the end of 2009,” says David Owen, chief European economist at Dresdner Kleinwort in London. “Massive [financial] imbalances need to be worked out, and the corporate sectors in many countries remain in a substantial deficit.”

Consumer confidence for the euro area has fallen to negative 29.7, the lowest it has been since 1993. And the news about the plunge in factory orders in Germany, led to the following comment, reported in the New York Times:

“It now looks likely that the euro zone will be the first major economy to fall into recession,” Jonathan Loynes, the chief European economist for Capital Economics, wrote after the report of sagging orders in Germany.

Great Britain

Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain’s second-largest bank, recently posted its first loss in 40 years after taking a £5.9bn hit from the credit crunch. And Barclays, the third-biggest bank, took a fresh £2.8bn write-down. Also, the price of houses are dropping rapidly, according to Guardian

the Halifax said house prices last month were 11% down on a year earlier – the first double-digit decline since its monthly healthcheck of the market was first published 25 years ago.

House prices back to 2006 and still falling, says Times. And new housing orders are down 33%. And, of course, home repossessions surge.

Business groups and City analysts warned that deep and rapid cuts in the cost of borrowing would be needed next year to pull Britain out of its first recession in more than 15 years. House prices are falling more rapidly than they were in the property crash of the late 1980s and early 1990s

It would seem a possible recovery in Britain will not be aided by increased consumer spending in the short term!

Recession in Germany?

Spiegel online writes that the German economy may have shrunk in the second quarter, according to early reports, and that the outlook for industrial production isn’t lively. Germany could slide into recession, and the German economy may have shrunk by around one percent. They also note that:

German factory orders were down by 2.9 percent in June from May, and orders from abroad for German goods plunged by 5.1 percent. Production at German factories rose by 0.2 percent in June — less than expected

Spain in deep trouble

Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain all face severe challenges. In Spain, the imploding domestic housing market has pushed the unemployment rate to 10.7 percent. The number of bankruptcies in the building sector is exploding, and one third of the job losses stems from the construction sector. As well, the housing market is stalling. The inflation is about 5 per cent.

The US

The credit cruch is still being felt, and so is the reversal of the wealth effect and high oil prices. In addition to bad news from the banking sector, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Indy Mac, and so, in the latest sign of the deepening troubles, G.M. recently reported a second-quarter loss of $15.5 billionfollowing a loss of $8.7 billion reported earlier by Ford. Car sales are dropping, especially sales of American cars.

Guardian notes that:

The US mortgage finance empire Freddie Mac yesterday predicted the worst housing slump since the Great Depression as it set aside $2.5bn (£1.28bn) to cover credit liabilities caused by delinquent loans and foreclosures.

And in New York Times, Peter S. Goodman recently wrote (August 1) that “More Arrows Seen Pointing to a Recession”.

Overall

Pretty gloomy still. The most positive piece of news is the slight drop in oil prices. But still serious signals of a slowdown of growth and possibly recession both in Europe and the US.

Power is the ability to get things done. Viewed from such a perspective it is a magic wand that can be used to make wonderful things happen. Viewed from a somewhat different angle, power is a good that can be traded or sold.

A German professor of law used his power this way:

A court in Germany sentenced a law professor to three years in prison for giving students better marks in exchange for sex and money.

The 53-year-old from the central city of Hanover admitted accepting 156,000 ($318,300) euros in total for awarding doctorates to students who failed to make the grade.

The man also told the court in nearby Hildesheim he had given female students better marks in return for sex.

The academic, whom the court on Wednesday convicted on 68 counts of corruption, said he had resorted to taking bribes because he was having financial difficulties.

His net monthly salary of nearly 5000 euros had not been sufficient to pay off his debts, the court heard.

I am not sure why the court didn’t ask the obvious question: How did sex from female students improve his financial situation?

The American subprime crisis has consequences in a large numner of countries around the world. The German newspaper Der Spiegel recently reported that German banks could lose as much as 70 billion Euros (about 110 billion US dollars):

German Banks Could Hemorrhage 70 Billion Euros

The fallout in Germany from exposure to America’s subprime crisis may turn out to be far bigger than previously feared. One major newspaper is putting estimated losses at a whopping 70 billion euros, while a prominent politician warns that the US recession has already arrived in Germany.

German banking executives fear the current financial crisis (more…) is quickly shaping up to be the worst since 1929. In its Friday edition, mass-circulation daily Bild newspaper cites banking insiders who predict that total losses at German banks from the American subprime mortgage loan crisis could hit the €70-billion ($111 billion) mark.

A number of large German banks, Deutche Bank, UBS, WestLB, Bayern LB are writing down billions of euros. Several of the banks have received government injections of money to keep them floating. The German banking system is shaky and losing customer confidence.