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Is Europe's Recession Really Over?
jones_supa writes "Bloomberg, the WSJ and the NYT cheered to report that the Euro Zone's economy has showed signs of recovery after two years of decline. They're all based on the news that Eurostat, the keeper of economic statistics for the European Union, says GDP grew 0.3 percent within the EU's borders from the end of March through June. As Olli Rehn, Eurostat's vice president, writes on his blog: 'I hope there will be no premature, self-congratulatory statements suggesting "the crisis is over."' He calls the GDP report only another sign of 'a potential turning point in the EU economy.' The quick conclusion by some economists and some in the news media that a slight rise in one quarter's GDP means a recession is over ignores how experts figure out when an economy is either in a significant downturn (a recession) or enjoying steady growth (an expansion)."
No.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Thus, the recession is technically over.
Which doesn't mean it can't come back later.
See, this is why the dolphins think we're morons.
I'm inclined to agree.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The EU is getting more integrated, but is still nowhere near one economy that moves in unison. So the answer to the headline question is: yes in some places, no in others. Germany's GDP is growing; Spain's is shrinking.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Specifically, German manufacturing...
That sector benefited over the years between the start of European Monetary Union and the start of the Mediterranean death-spiral from being locked into a favourable exchange rate with a relatively cash-rich (albeit debt-fuelled) set of customer states. Most of those states are economically dead or dying at the moment.
If the German manufacturing sector has managed to diversify its markets enough over the last couple of years that it can weather the delayed shock of this when it finally hits, then Europe will probably muddle through. Once the worst of the crisis has past, the states that should never have been in EMU to begin with can be eased out of it without too much risk of contagion and most of Europe will be ok (though I suspect living standards in Greece etc will take decades to make up lost ground, if indeed they ever do).
If German manufacturing does start to suffer in a big way over the next year or two, then we've only seen the start of the problem, as if the economic engine of much of the continent splutters, then the death spiral will just widen. In that case, expect to see the UK and some of Eastern European states split away in self preservation and some really unpleasant social disorder sweep most of the rest of the continent.
All of which is absolutely nothing compared to what will happen when China's generation of largely-single angry-young-men-used-to-ever-rising-living-standards (the inevitable result of a one-child-policy that turns a blind eye to a bit of back-door gender selection) experiences its first serious recession.
You are right about passing debt to our children
Wrong. Whatever is produced at a given point in time is available for consumption at that time. We will never send real resources backwards in time in order to "repay" public debts.
The real theft your generation has perpetrated on mine is all of this lost output which can never be regained. Public debt needs to increase so the output gap can be closed.
Lost Output Clock
.: Semper Absurda
That's the quality of reporting for you. Most original reports include confidence intervals. The Census, for example, provides access to economic indicator data with its confidence intervals.
People can weather bad times for a while, many have nest eggs, live off ramen noodles and stay with their parents longer, don't start a family, take more education instead and whatnot to live a subsistence life but those options tend to run out and eventually what they desperately need is a job and an income so they can get on with their lives. That the economy isn't tanking even more is great, but unless there's real growth and people getting back into the labor force it's still going to be a train wreck in progress. The same is happening in the US, before the financial crisis the employment-population ratio was about 63% now it's hovering between 58% and 59%, despite what the unemployment rate says. The US would need another 10 million jobs to return to 2008 levels.
So far I must say that despite everything it has been very calm so far, when you're looking at 27.6% unemployment and 64.9% youth unemployment like Greece does right now many countries would be at "fuck it, communism can't get any worse" conditions. And fat fucking luck if you're going to get a job after years of unemployment, most places will see you as damaged goods and rather hire someone straight out of school. The economy is one thing, it will survive somehow but the people are getting royally screwed. It's a generation almost certain to have it much worse than their parents, despite all the technological advances. And somehow I have the feeling it's just one bad domino away from becoming something much worse, so many look ready to fall.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
is the GDP report even valid? Given the multi-decade manipulation of the way the deflator (inflation) is calculated it is quite possilbe that not only Europe, but the US as well, has been in recession since the early 2000's. Shadowstats is an outfit that provides US figures using the most recent prior methodology - I think it is circa 1992. And remember, the government(s) have a very vested interest in keeping the "official" inflation figure low - it lowers any payment tied that rate (social security, procurment contracts) while also making the GDP figure look better.