04/06/2010

Banks stow away more money than during Lehman-crisis and politicians appear to remain unaware

Financial Times reports that the European banks now deposited more than 320 billion euro at the ECB, afraid of lending it to one another. This amount is higher than during the Lehman episode. And as a surprise, weblog Geenstijl is alert and reports about this matter. The AEX has plunged a bit and the Dow fell through the 10.000.

Today we were also informed that the consumer spending in April in Europe dropped considerably as a result of the European crisis. Everyone immediately started saving again. Which means that spending will indeed fall this year, when the eurocrisis continues (quite likely as Greece is completely unable to pay back).

It is surprising to note that this market reality hasn't reached the Dutch politicians. The economic crisis is still here. Yet, we see Emile Roemer -leader of the leftwing Socialistische Partij- claiming that he is going the redistribute the profits of Dutch banks of last year as if Robin Hood himself.

Well, dream on Emile, have a look at the P&Ls of last year and you'll see no profits there...