Man begging in Athens with sign saying ‘I’m hungry’ in Greek (Photo: source unknown)
http://www.dw.de/the-crisis-has-taken-root-at-every-level/a-17150286
May 2, 2014
How can this be possible?
Bond yields are at record lows and stock prices near record highs across Europe and even the ever-increasing debt-to-GDP characteristics of the perennially weak periphery are able to issue bonds willy-nilly as if nothing had ever happened.
So how come 18.9 million people across Europe were unemployed in the euro area in March?
Spain – actually trading at its cheapest cost of funding of all time (below 3%) – accounts for 6 million of those. As Bloomberg’s Niraj Shah notes, Greece and Spain have the highest jobless rates in Europe at 26.7% and 25.3%, respectively. That contrasts with 4.9% in Austria. The overall unemployment rate was unchanged at 11.8% in March from February after the previous month’s read as youth unemployment continues to rise.
Welcome to the totally manipulated “markets” where indicators have no signal quality anymore except to perpetuate an entirely false hope that the status quo is attainable once again and sustainable going forward.
For a brief month or two, Spain’s unemployment data fell – rekindling belief in the miracle (thanks to participation rate shenanigans) but now as yields push below 3% for the first time, it is re-accelerating….
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The European Commission has warned that eurozone countries are drifting apart: An ever-declining south is facing a relatively stable north. Governments are unable to protect household incomes.
Austria and Spain – worlds apart
To simply discuss European averages, does not get to the root of the problem – perhaps most disturbing is how the EU, and especially the eurozone, is splitting into a relatively stable north and an ever-declining south.
Take unemployment, for example. According to current figures from the European statistical authority Eurostat, Austria is experiencing unemployment at a rate of about 4.5 percent – compared to 26.6 percent in Spain, Europe’s jobless frontrunner.
The situation looks even bleaker for youth in Spain and Greece, where more than every one in two lacks work – illustrating the gulf between individual nations.
continued: http://www.dw.de/poverty-is-on-the-rise-in-europe/a-16507641
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That’s a lot better than it is here under Obama….
217 mil over 18
36 mil over 65
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181 mil between 18-64 ……118/92 = 50.8% unemployment rate in the USA. Although that’s not the numbers the public is given.
Where is all the money going?
