The following are 20 signs that the next Great Depression has already started in Europe...
#1 The unemployment rate in France has surged to
10.6 percent, and the number of jobless claims in that country recently set
a new all-time record.
#2 Unemployment in the eurozone as a whole is sitting at an all-time record of
12 percent.
#3 Two years ago, Portugal's unemployment rate was about 12 percent. Today, it is about
17 percent.
#4 The unemployment rate in Spain has set a new all-time record of
27 percent. Even during the Great Depression of the 1930s the United States never had unemployment that high.
#5 The unemployment rate among those under the age of 25 in Spain is an astounding
57.2 percent.
#6 The unemployment rate in Greece has set a new all-time record of
27.2 percent. Even during the Great Depression of the 1930s the United States never had unemployment that high.
#7 The unemployment rate among those under the age of 25 in Greece is a whopping
59.3 percent.
#8 French car sales in March were
16 percent lower than they were one year earlier.
#9 German car sales in March were
17 percent lower than they were one year earlier.
#10 In the Netherlands, consumer debt is now up to
about 250 percent of available income.
#11 Industrial production in Italy has fallen by an astounding
25 percentover the past five years.
#12 The number of Spanish firms filing for bankruptcy is
45 percent higher than it was a year ago.
#13 Since 2007, the value of non-performing loans in Europe has increased
by 150 percent.
#14 Bank withdrawals in Cyprus during the month of March
were doublewhat they were in February even though the banks were closed for half the month.
#15 Due to an absolutely crippling housing crash, there are approximately
3 million vacant homes in Spain today.
#16 Things have gotten so bad in Spain that entire apartment buildings are being overwhelmed
by squatters...
A 285-unit apartment complex in Parla, less than half an hour’s drive from Madrid, should be an ideal target for investors seeking cheap property in Spain. Unfortunately, two thirds of the building generates zero revenue because it’s overrun by squatters.
“This is happening all over the country,” said Jose Maria Fraile, the town’s mayor, who estimates only 100 apartments in the block built for the council have rental contracts, and not all of those tenants are paying either. “People lost their jobs, they can’t pay mortgages or rent so they lost their homes and this has produced a tide of squatters.”
#17 As I wrote about
the other day, child hunger has become so rampant in Greece that teachers are reporting that hungry children are begging their classmates for food.
#18 The debt to GDP ratio in Italy is now up to
136 percent.
#19 25 percent of all banking assets in the UK are in banks that are leveraged
at least 40 to 1.
#20 German banking giant Deutsche Bank has
more than 55 trillion euros(which is more than 72 trillion dollars) of exposure to derivatives. But the GDP of Germany for an entire year is only about 2.7 trillion euros.
