Soros - Europe Faces 25 Year Slump Without Overhaul

[mr_anderson]

Billionaire investor George Soros said Europe faces 25 years of Japanese-style stagnation unless politicians pursue further integration of the currency bloc and change policies that have discouraged banks from lending.

While the immediate financial crisis that has plagued Europe since 2010 “is over,” it still faces a political crisis that has divided the region between creditor and debtor nations, Soros, 83, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in London today. At the same time, banks have been encouraged to pass stress tests, rather than boost the economy by providing capital to businesses, he said.

Europe “may not survive 25 years of stagnation,” Soros said in the interview with Francine Lacqua. “You have to go further with the integration. You have to solve the banking problem, because Europe is lagging behind the rest of the world in sorting out its banks.”

bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-12/soros-says-europe-faces-25-years-of-stagnation-without-overhaul.html

Is 25 years too pessimistic ?

[NegativeEquity]

@mr_anderson

Billionaire investor George Soros said Europe faces 25 years of Japanese-style stagnation unless politicians pursue further integration of the currency bloc and change policies that have discouraged banks from lending.

While the immediate financial crisis that has plagued Europe since 2010 “is over,” it still faces a political crisis that has divided the region between creditor and debtor nations, Soros, 83, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in London today. At the same time, banks have been encouraged to pass stress tests, rather than boost the economy by providing capital to businesses, he said.

Europe “may not survive 25 years of stagnation,” Soros said in the interview with Francine Lacqua. “You have to go further with the integration. You have to solve the banking problem, because Europe is lagging behind the rest of the world in sorting out its banks.”

bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-12/soros-says-europe-faces-25-years-of-stagnation-without-overhaul.html

Is 25 years too pessimistic ?

Or optimistic?

[mr_anderson]

Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is adding his voice to billionaire investor George Soros’s in cautioning against complacency as he warns of a “very weak” recovery in Europe.

The region’s failure to deliver a convincing rebound from its debt crisis is hampering trade growth and threatening export-reliant nations like Sweden, Reinfeldt said yesterday in an interview outside Stockholm.

The development is “absolutely a threat to Sweden,” the 48-year-old said. “We’re still seeing very weak growth numbers, demand continues to be low.”

bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-12/soros-joined-by-swedish-prime-minister-seeing-european-sclerosis.html

Thought this was very apt given today’s GDP/GNP figures.