German exports for the month of February have plummeted to their lowest level since 1950, following a similar decline in January. The drop means Europe’s largest economy will contract more than expected.
According to the latest figures published on Wednesday by the Federal Statistics Office, exports fell 23.1 percent to just under 65 billion euros in February, compared to the same period last year. This follows a similarly precipitous drop of 23.2 percent in January.
The two-month decline is the worst since World War II. Imports also dropped 16.4 percent to 56.2 billion euros compared to a year ago.
The government has acknowledged that Europe’s biggest economy will contract by more than the current forecast of 2.25 percent this year and possibly as much as seven percent.
Imports haven’t been this bad since shortly after the allies defeated the Nazis. This is inherent to the psychology that welcomes the mass invasion of Muslim migrants – and these problems are the state of affairs that existed prior to the cost of those immigrants taking effect. One thing you know is things will get worse now.
As this plays out, it is affecting the weakest link, the fractional banking system:
Deutsche Bank, the giant German bank that has a big presence on Wall Street and is facing much regulatory scrutiny in the United States, on Wednesday warned that it expects to post a hefty loss in the third quarter.
The bank, Germany’s largest, forecast a net loss of 6.2 billion euros, or nearly $7 billion, for the quarter. It comes just months into the tenure of Deutsche Bank’s new co-chief executive, John Cryan, who is trying to overhaul the institution. Along with the scandal and upheaval at Volkswagen, Deutsche’s struggles point to some of the weaknesses of Germany’s corporate culture.
“The news is not good, and I expect a number of you will be very disappointed by it,” Mr. Cryan said in a memo to employees. “We expect to report a sizable loss for the third quarter.”
The end result of the present course will be higher unemployment, reduced pleasure and leisure, increased violence, in-grouping, and angst. The end result will be K-selection.
Apocalypse cometh™
What really bothers me about banks is they essentially create the money they lend to others from thin air and they still can’t make money. We’re always told about the great competence of these Masters of the Universe but it amazes me to no end they make money from nothing and still go broke. Shows they are completely incompetent.