Infinite Unknown

- Belgian Police Investigate Millions of Counterfeit Euro Coins (Veterans Today, May 19, 2013):

WORLD NEWS TOMORROW – BRUXELLES -During the last month the Belgian Federal police has confiscated several tons of counterfeit Euro Coins that were shipped from China via the Belgian territory into the European Union. There seems to been a huge increase since 2012 in the production and sales of counterfeited Euro Coins.The counterfeit euro coins are smuggled into Belgium with description of old metal transports and it seems that there might have been several hundred tons of counterfeit euro coins already in the markets according to a radio interview confirmed by Ine Van Wymersch and that the Belgian federal police is investigating the matter at present.

Its is unclear as to how many tons of counterfeit Euro coins might have been smuggled into the Belgian territory. Seeing that Belgium is a very small country with a population of only 6 million , only a few tons of counterfeit Euro coins could hugely effect the true monetary value of Belgium.

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Tags: Belgium, China, Crime, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Police

- Robbers breach gate, steal $50 million in diamonds at Belgian airport (CNN, Feb 19, 2013):

Night had fallen. Some 20 airplane passengers had taken their seats for the short hop from Brussels, Belgium, to Zurich, Switzerland.Unknown to them, a precious cargo was being loaded into the airplane hold along with their suitcases: $50 million in rough and polished diamonds.

But the diamonds would never reach their final destination.

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Tags: Belgium, Crime, Diamonds, Government

- Depardieu ‘Shrugged’ (ZeroHedge, Dec 16, 2012):

Via Emmanuel Martin, Executive Director of
the Institute for Economic Studies-Europe (www.ies-europe.org) and editor of www.LibreAfrique.org.,

Last week the big story in French headlines has been the tax exile of Gerard Depardieu in Nechin, Belgium, half a mile from the French border. French PM Jean-Marc Ayrault called the French movie star’s behavior “minable” (pathetic). A socialist MP, Yann Galut, even suggested that M. Depardieu loses his French nationality. In an open letter in the Journal Du Dimanche on December 16, Depardieu, who famously starred as Obélix, the big Gallic fellow of Astérix, carrying menhirs on his back – and sometimes throwing them at the Romans, replies. With a taste of Ayn Rand’s famous character John Galt. Gerard shrugged.

Depardieu begins by saying that what is pathetic is to call his behavior pathetic. Although he does not want to justify the many reasons of his choice, he makes it clear that he leaves after paying 85% of taxes on his income this year and € 145 million through his entire life; He leaves because the French PM thinks that “success, creation and talent, in fact difference, must be punished”. He then reminds Jean-Marc Ayrault that he set up companies that employ 80 people. Depardieu says he is ready to give up his French passport and his “Social Security” (the French public health care system, which he claims he never used).

This letter is important.

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Tags: Belgium, Economy, EU, Europe, France, Francois Hollande, Gerard Depardieu, Global News, Government, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Politics, Society, Taxes, Taxpayers

- Gerard Depardieu Is Latest Refugee From French Millionaire Tax; Escapes To Belgium (ZeroHedge, Dec 10, 2012):

Three months ago many were angry and surprised (or not at all, as realistically this was a perfectly logical move), when Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH and the richest man in socialist France, decided he had had enough, and would move to Belgium to avoid Hollande’s punitive taxes on France’s wealthiest. The indignant media’s mocking response in France was fast and furious, with many delighted to see the billionaire leave. We wonder how the media will respond as more and more wealthy Frenchmen decide, now that the seal has been broken, to do just that and leave France to its grassroots movement where it is only “fair” that those who have more income and/or wealth, pay more than everyone else to keep the myth of the ponzi scheme formerly known as the welfare state alive and well. Such as one of France’s most popular actors, Gerard Depardieu, who is the latest high profile departure to leave his native country and go to Belgium to avoid the second coming of the “fairness doctrine” (the first one of course, doing less than spectacularly with that whole USSR thing).

From The Independent:

Gerard Depardieu is to leave his French homeland for Belgium in order to pay less tax.

The actor is the latest high profile figure to leave France after a series of wealth tax hikes by President Francois Hollande.

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Tags: Belgium, Economy, EU, France, Francois Hollande, Gerard Depardieu, Global News, Government, Politics

- Tales Of The Unexpected: Who Really Benefited From The Euro (Hint: NOT Germany) (ZeroHedge, Aug 18, 2012):

With austerity supposedly destroying standards of living (that no real austerity has actually been implemented is a different matter entirely) across Europe’s insolvent periphery, the only recourse said broke countries (here’s looking at you Mario Monti and Mariano Rajoy) have is to desperately attempt to shame those countries who have money such as Germany, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands, aka Europe’s AAA club, into shoveling more and more and more cash into the bottomless pit that are the PIIGS. After all, precisely this was the basis for the “hostage and extortion” strategy that Monti employed at the June 29 summit, and which has resulted in a surge in European stocks on hopes Germany will indeed bail everyone out. The reason for this is that, at least according to conventional wisdom, it was these countries that benefited the most from a decade of EUR-facilitated mercantilism, and exported inflation to their spendthrfit (and ‘debt-thrift’) southern neighbors. So it is only “fair” that these countries now give back a little (or a whole lot) back (just as it is only “fair” that Germany give a helping hand in Obama’s reelection chances, which as everyone knows would be negligible if the global capital markets were to tumble just before November if reality in Europe were to come back with a vengeance). Well, as virtually always happens, conventional wisdom is wrong, and as the following chart from UBS demonstrates, when one analyzes the only relevant metric that compares changes in standards of living across various income deciles- namely changes in real disposable household income – it is precisely the PIIGS that benefited, while countries such as Germany and Austria were left in the dust.

From UBS:

If we look across the larger and longer established Euro membership we can see these two patterns being replicated according to country type. Each country shows the cumulative real disposable household income growth for each of its income deciles. The lowest income decile is to the left of each country’s selection, and the highest to the right.

Austria looks to be alarmingly weak – what this actually represents is very little change in nominal disposable income growth, coupled with inflation. Germany, Ireland, most of Italy and the French middle class all experience a decline in their standards of living. In most of these countries, the highest income groups do relatively well. Continue reading »

Tags: Austria, Belgium, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Finland, France, Germany, Global News, Government, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Politics

- Cracked Belgian nuclear reactor to remain closed, “Repairing the crack is practically impossible”, says Belgium’s nuclear safety agency chief (EX-SKF, Aug 13, 2012):

Doel Nuclear Power Station has 4 reactors, all pressurized-water reactors.

The company that made the vessels had gone out of business.

(I’m assuming the “steel tank containing a nuclear reactor” is the Reactor Pressure Vessel and not the Containment Vessel, but not quite sure from reading the article. If the readers in Europe know, please leave a comment in the comment section.)

(UPDATE: It is the Reactor Pressure Vessel. Thank you readers.)

From France 24 News citing AP (8/10/2012):

A crack discovered in a steel tank containing a nuclear reactor at a Belgian power plant will likely keep the station closed, the country’s nuclear safety agency said on Friday. Repairing the crack is “practically impossible,” the agency said. Continue reading »

Tags: Belgium, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Technology

- Belgian National Bank Governor Gets It: Bailing Out Spain “Makes No Sense” (ZeroHedge, Aug 11, 2012):

A week ago we explained quite clearly why instead of encouraging self-defeating, short-termist behavior by promising to save Europe’s insolvent countries if and when needed, which does nothing to resolves Europe’s problems and make it worse in exchange for a brief respite from bond selling, the ECB should be doing precisely the opposite: encouraging local governments to understand that there is no magic bazooka from the central banks. Specifically we said that “this Catch 22 of confounding cause and event can continue seemingly indefinitely, although in reality it can’t. Because fundamentally what the bond market does is keep sovereigns “honest” - just as Schauble said a week ago, Spanish yields at 7% are not the end of the world – instead what they are is a signal to the country to get its spending in control in order to reduce its deficit, and fundamentally get its house in order – yes, that means getting government spending to a sustainable level and firing hundreds of thousands of workers, as well as probably raising taxes even more. It also means pain all around, but the pain is inevitable and will only be worse the longer reality is denied.” This logic is so clear that only a lifelong economist, PhD or Goldman apparatchik can not grasp it: sadly that accounts for most of the people “in charge.”

Which is why we were delighted to read that at least one person “gets it” – Belgian national bank governor Luc Coene, the same Belgium that is also the clogged heart of the Burtonian bureaucratic labyrinth known as the EU, who told Belgium’s two largest newspaper that “buying the bonds of these countries would only serve to weaken the ECB and do nothing to resolve underlying issues of competitiveness.  “It makes no sense for the ECB to start financing those countries,” said Mr Coene, “It would only lead to the ECB taking on the whole public debt of Spain and Italy onto its balance sheet.” Bingo. And not a moment too soon – we really were starting to pull a Mogatu here. Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, Belgium, Bonds, Debt, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Italy, Mario Draghi, Politics, Spain

- For Italy, It Is Game Theory Over (ZeroHedge; July 27, 2012)

Tags: Belgium, Economy, EU, Europe, Finland, Germany, Global News, Government, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Politics, Portugal

- Germany Folding? Europe’s Insolvent Banks To Get Direct Funding From ESM (ZeroHedge, April 26, 2012):

We start today’s story of the day by pointing out that Deutsche Bank – easily Europe’s most critical financial institution – reported results that were far worse than expected, following a decline in equity and debt trading revenues of 23% and 8%, but primarily due to Europe simply “not being fixed yet” despite what its various politicians tell us. And if DB is still impaired, then something else will have to give. Next, we go to none other than Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid, who in his daily Morning Reid piece, reminds the world that with austerity still the primary driver in a double dipping Europe (luckily… at least for now, because no matter how many economists repeat the dogmatic mantra, more debt will never fix an excess debt problem, and in reality austerity is the wrong word – the right one is deleveraging) to wit: “an unconditional ECB is probably what Europe needs now given the austerity drive.” However, as German taxpayers who will never fall for unconditional money printing by the ECB (at least someone remembers the Weimar case), the ECB will likely have to keep coming up with creative solutions. Which bring us to the story du jour brought by Suddeutsche Zeitung, according to which the ECB and countries that use the euro are working on an initiative to allow cash-strapped banks direct access to funding from the European Stability Mechanism. As a reminder, both Germany and the ECB have been against this kind of direct uncollateralized, unsterilized injections, so this move is likely a precursor to even more pervasive easing by the European central bank, with the only question being how many headlines of denials by Schauble will hit the tape before this plan is approved. And if all eyes are again back on the ECB, does it mean that the recent distraction face by the IMF can now be forgotten, and more importantly, if the ECB is once again prepping to reliquify, just how bad are things again in Europe? And what happens if this time around the plan to fix a solvency problem with more electronic 1s and 0s does not work?

Here is Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid redirecting attention back to where it was all throughout the summer and fall of 2011, until the new Goldman-based head of the ECB relented days after his appointment: Continue reading »

Tags: Banking, Belgium, Ben Bernanke, Bonds, Czech Republic, Debt, Deutsche Bank, ECB, Economy, ESM, EU, Euro, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, Finland, France, GDP, Germany, Global News, Greece, IMF, Ireland, Italy, Politics, Portugal, Society, Spain

- Strauss-Kahn questioned in prostitution case (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 22, 2012):

PARIS — Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was being held for questioning Tuesday by French police investigating a suspected hotel prostitution ring.

Strauss-Kahn, a one-time French presidential hopeful whose chances were derailed by a sexual assault accusation, arrived at the police station in the northern city of Lille for a pre-arranged morning appointment and was still there in the late afternoon.

Police are probing a suspected prostitution ring in France and neighboring Belgium that has implicated police and other officials. They have questioned prostitutes who said they had sex with Strauss-Kahn during 2010 and 2011 at a luxury hotel in Paris, a restaurant in the French capital and also in Washington, D.C.

French law permits police to question Strauss-Kahn for 48 hours, and then for another 48 hours with a judge’s approval.

Strauss-Kahn lived in the U.S. capital while he was head of the IMF before resigning his position in May after he was charged by New York police with making a hotel maid perform oral sex. The charges were later dropped.

Two men with ties to Strauss-Kahn have been put under preliminary investigation in France on charges including organizing a prostitution ring and misuse of corporate funds.

Strauss-Kahn’s name surfaced in the investigation last fall and his lawyer has asked that Strauss-Kahn be allowed to tell his side of the story. One of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers has said that the former French presidential hopeful never knew that the women at orgies he attended were prostitutes.

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Tags: Belgium, Crime, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, France, Global News, Police, Sex, Society