The utter contempt which German car manufacturers have shown for generally accepted business standards and for its customers wordwide are a clear sign of a new mood in Germany. The falsifying of emission tests is one of the largest criminal frauds which has ever been perpetrated and the companies involved, VW, Porsche, Audi etc. could not care less. Only the US is big enough to dare to challenge the might of the German car industry and even it is treading comparatively lightly, at least so far. Compare the treatment of the Westminster Three, bankers who were arrested in the UK and extradited to the US, where they were subjected to the full rigours of the US criminal system for a fraud which paled into insignificance compared to that perpetrated by the German car industry, a huge conspiracy to defraud car owners and ensure that the worlds atmosphere did not get cleaned up as it should have been.
The UKs place as a laughing stock in world affairs is well illustrated by the fact that it is about the only major country where the Germans are refusing to offer any compensation whatsoever to UK owners who were tricked into buying what they thought were clean cars. The UK is being singled out because it has become too weak and irrelevant to matter and they Germans know they can get away with it.
Such disregard for the laws of countries in which Germany trades indicates the emergence of a new arrogance and this is not the only example.
One of the worst features of this new and dangerous mood in Germany, is its huge and utterly illegal trade surplus, which in the end will destroy the Eurozone and with it the EU as we know it. Eurozone rules prohibit a budget deficit in excess of 3% of GDP and similarly they also prohibit a trade surplus in excess of 3%. The 3% limits are there for good economic reasons – to exceed them creates an imbalance in the worlds or Europes economies. The German surplus has been inexorably rising towards a huge 10% and it adamantly refuses to do anything about it. Obviously compliance with EU laws is not, once again, something which the Germans are very keen on. They would much prefer, as they have done for years, to scream and rail against tiny Greece for its budget deficits which have now happily been turned into a small surplus and blame the Greeks for causing the imbalance which threatens the Euro. That is much like blaming a rowing boat for sinking the Titanic.
Germany is in effect waging economic warfare, tanks and the jackboot have become outdated. Countries can be devastated by economic means and Germany has shown that it has every intention of continuing to amass its massive and illegal surpluses. There is only one hope and that is the German education system. Germans are still brought up to be disciplined and follow orders. They can not imagine that they are on the road to creating an economic Stalingrad. This time it will not be a blind failure to realise that you need winter uniforms to survive in temperatures of -40C which will cause havoc. This time it will be the sudden realisation that their illegal surpluses have brought about the collapse of their own economy because suddenly there will not be enough money left outside Germany for people to buy its exports. Its illegal surpluses will destroy its own export markets. Germany has again forgotten basic principles, -this time, that one countries budget surplus is another countries budget deficit.
In corporate news:
AstraZeneca AZN says its Lynparza ovarian cancer drug developed with Merck & Co has received additional and broad approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Astra Chief Medical Officer Sean Bohen said: “Today’s approvals validate more than 10 years of dedicated research behind Lynparza, the world’s first PARP inhibitor, which now provides oncologists with the greater flexibility for use in terms of treatment settings.”
Reckitt Benckiser Group RB. has completed the sale of its food business for $4.2 billion. The net proceeds will be used to reduce debt.
Renewables Infrastructure Group TRIG produced a robust operational and financial performance for the half year to the 30th June, with profit before tax up from 19.2m to 31.3m and earnings per share rising from 2.6p to 3.5p. The company remains on track to deliver dividends of 6.4p per share for the full year.