In a debt based system, the only real growth you can have is via increasing debts. But you can't have infinite debt, so booms and busts are inevitable. However, this bust has been delayed for so long that it will be gigantic... Please prepare - get extra food in. Get to know your neighbours. Learn survival skills. Pray....Global debts have reached a record high despite efforts by governments to reduce public and private borrowing, according to a report that warns the “poisonous combination” of spiralling debts and low growth could trigger another crisis. Modest falls in household debt in the UK and the rest of Europe have been offset by a credit binge in Asia that has pushed global private and public debt to a new high in the past year, according to the 16th annual Geneva report. The total burden of world debt, excluding the financial sector, has risen from 180% of global output in 2008 to 212% last year, according to the report.  The study by a panel of senior academic and finance industry economists accuses policymakers in many countries of failing to spur sustainable growth by capitalising on historically low interest rates while deterring exuberant lending.

It called for Brussels to write off the debts of the eurozone’s worst-hit countries and urgently embark on a “sizeable” programme of electronic money creation or quantitative easing to push down long-term interest rates. It said unless policymakers kept a lid on risks in the financial system, especially overvalued property and stock markets, a trend for investing in assets with borrowed money could run out of control. The Geneva report, which is commissioned by the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies, follows a study earlier this year by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), which diagnosed the same problem, but said risky borrowing could only be discouraged by higher interest rates.

The Geneva report instead argued a concerted effort to tackle the after-effects of the crisis was needed to mitigate a “poisonous combination of high and rising global debt and slowing nominal GDP [gross domestic product], driven by both slowing real growth and falling inflation”.

The ECB and the Euro have not united Europe in any way since their inception - other than a common un-payable astronomical debt via a common currency! The EEC was a far better instrument for uniting Europe - with each government controlling its own borders and in control of their own currencies - and their own prices! Central banks such as the FED and the ECB are screwing the life out of the working man and having a right laugh about it too with their corporate and politician underlings! As just one example, in 1955 the starting wage at a John Deere plant in the USA was $13.50 an hour and gasoline cost 25 cents a gallon back then! It now costs $4 a gallon which is 16 times higher - but the minimum wage in the USA is around $7 an hour. And guess what - the starting wage at John Deere is still $13.50 an hour! According to the cost of gasoline it should be 16 x $13.50 = $215 dollars an hour!!! Similar scenarios are playing out in Britain and the rest of Europe as well! So when the bank controlled media starts spouting about real growth - I would say that is a load of horse manure! Actually, the truth lies in not just "debt forgiveness" but in "debt-free money" directly from government treasuries everywhere... value based on individual GDPs. But the central bank stockholders who meet at the Bank of International Settlements in Switzerland will not relinquish their 6.66 % (how odd) of the entire national debt of the Western World very easily! Assassinations, wars, and depressions are just some of the tricks they pull out of their hats to keep us all enslaved to debt-based money! The only solution would be to have leaders with "balls" open their books, throw the buggers in jail, and then start printing currency based on good faith and national assets. Organizations like Positive Money in the UK are trying to spread awareness of this major problem in our economies! Let's hope they are successful!

Nato's new secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, says the alliance wants constructive ties with Russia - but Russian policy in Ukraine must change.  On his first day as head of the 28-nation alliance he said "we need to see clear changes in Russia's actions".

Nato accuses Russia of supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine with heavy weapons and soldiers. Russia admits only that Russian "volunteers" have gone there. Shelling in Donetsk has jeopardised a ceasefire. "We have to see that Russia changes its behaviour and its actions and returns to compliance with international law and its obligations," Mr Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels. A former prime minister of Norway and centre-left politician, he has taken over the Nato job from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former conservative prime minister in Denmark.

'A strong Nato' Nato is bolstering its presence in the former communist countries on Russia's western borders, which are now Nato members. "I see no contradiction between a strong Nato and our continued effort to build a constructive relationship with Russia," Mr Stoltenberg said. He said Nato would continue to support Ukraine as an "independent, sovereign and stable" nation.

Ukraine is not in Nato, but the alliance says member states are free to supply weapons to Ukraine if they want to.

Since Russia annexed Crimea in March, forcing Ukraine to abandon its bases there, Nato has halted practical co-operation with Russia but kept political channels open.

Eurozone growth was flat in the second quarter and the latest evidence suggests the weakness continued in the third. The ECB is battling to prevent outright deflation in the 18-member region, with inflation perilously low at 0.3% in September - sharply lower than its target of close to but below 2%. Draghi appeared more concerned about low inflation than recent months, but added: “As all our measures work their way through to the economy they will contribute to a return of inflation rates to levels closer to our aim.”

He said France must implement structural reforms and stick to the EU’s deficit rules, a day after Paris announced a budget that would not bring its deficit under the required 3% of GDP until 2017. “Each actor has his role to perform,” Draghi said.

Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg, interpreted Draghi’s comments as “a stark warning to France to live up to the fiscal adjustment commitments it made in previous budget rounds”.

Schulz added: “Since the ECB is involved in reviewing the budgets as part of the European semester which starts in mid-October, France could be headed for stiff headwinds, up to financial penalties being imposed by the EU Commission. Since these could only be averted by a qualified majority of the member states, France faces an uphill battle and will probably have to make significant concessions. If not on fiscal targets, than on structural reforms.”

Today is the anniversary of German reunification in 1990. Merkel's speech, on Austrian TV, contains the following (my translate). "I know I repeat and repeat this issue and many thing it is insignificant, but I will keep repeating it because only by doing what we do are we showing how to resolve our European problems. If we do not continue with our method we, here in Europe, will soon not be taken very seriously. We Europeans must stick to the principles and treaties we have founded and put in place for ourselves, including the Growth and Stability Pact."

I think those remarks, the frankest I've heard from Angie, are directed at France, the other throne in the dual monarchy, and to some growing extent Italy. Interesting times ahead, especially as the ECB is empty and we are going to discover quite a few banks are void too, and not just in the GIPIS group.

LATE EDIT - I found this too!

French 2015 budget statement -“No further effort will be demanded of the French, because the government – while taking the fiscal responsibility needed to put the country on the right track – rejects austerity.” This was yesterday...."European companies continued to struggle this September, as continued weakness in France took a turn for the worse.

Key gauges of private sector strength slipped, failing to meet the expectations of analysts. The composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reading for the euro area as a whole dropped to 52, from 52.5 in August.  While above 50, and thus implying private sector growth across the currency bloc on average, the data suggest that the pace of growth fell.  A consensus poll of economy watchers suggested that the headline reading would only deteriorate to 52.3 in September. 

"The PMI suggests the eurozone economy remained stuck in a rut in the third quarter", said Chris Williamson, of Markit, who compiled the report. "

The International Monetary Fund describes public infrastructure spending as "one of the few remaining policy levers available to support growth"...All the advanced economies should take advantage of ultra-low borrowing costs to lift spending on key infrastructure projects and boost the global recovery, according to the International Monetary Fund.   The IMF said a debt-funded investment spree could "pay for itself" if projects were chosen wisely, as government spending would stimulate demand, create jobs, and support longer-term growth.  "In advanced economies an increase in infrastructure investment could provide a much-needed fillip to demand and it is one of the few remaining policy levers available to support growth, given already accommodative monetary policy," the IMF said in a chapter of its World Economic Outlook.  The Fund suggested the eurozone could benefit most from ramping up infrastructure spending because it said policies were most effective in low growth, high quality infrastructure economies that were currently running below their potential. Borrowing costs in some European countries have fallen to record lows amid a pledge by the European Central Bank (ECB) to keep interest rates low and policy loose for an "extended period". The IMF said borrowing at ultra-low rates to finance infrastructure spending would have a much bigger impact on growth than if policymakers raised taxes or cut spending in other areas to make the policy budget neutral. While public debt would increase, so would growth, keeping the debt-to-GDP ratio stable, the IMF said. However it warned against governments embarking on a blind spending spree, which would push up debt piles without stimulating growth. Spending on infrastructure would only have a positive impact if policymakers conducted "rigorous" cost-benefit analyses to ensure that public money was not being spent on wasteful projects that provided little return.  "Countries shouldn't spend on whatever they want. It's really critical that countries choose the right projects and invest efficiently," said Abdul Abiad, IMF deputy division chief...Even the IMF is acknowledging supply side economics doesn't work.  Stimulus put into the top of the system, banks, according to supply side economics, should have kick started the global economy.  But the bankers blew asset bubbles, the rich got richer and the global economy stalled.  There was no one to buy the "wealth creators" products and services.  The "wealth creators" are driven by demand and would not increase supply until demand rose. They just sat on their huge wads of cash waiting for demand to rise.  But those silly "wealth creators" hadn't realised that employees are also consumers and in holding down their wages, meant demand didn't rise.  So now back to true Keynesian economics where demand is the driver.  You build infrastructure that needs building anyway and create jobs, wages, spending and demand. Oh you silly "wealth creators" you are nothing without demand for your products and services...So the IMFs answer to the worlds economic problems is to get the spendaholic governments of the world to spend even more money, because apparently they haven't spent enough already.
The IMF is calling for more taxation on the people. When a government takes out a loan and spends the money, it will eventually have to be repaid via taxation, so the IMF is basically calling for more taxation. Thanks for that IMF, why don't you **** off.
If you can't see that the IMF is nothing more than an extension of the banking system, and big western governments, then you haven't got your eyes open.

Well,Germany’s dominant service sector will be increasingly relied upon to deliver growth. The sector’s PMI reading rose to 55.4 in September, a rise of 0.5 points on the previous month.

“September’s flash PMI results paint a mixed picture of the health of the German economy at the end of the third quarter”, said Mr Kolodseike. Markit expects German GDP to rise by just 0.4pc in the quarter.

Meanwhile, incoming minimum wage legislation, scheduled for January 2015 has “weighed on service sector sentiment, with business expectations the lowest in nearly two years”, Mr Kolodseike said.

Equivalent PMI numbers for France showed both its manufacturing and services sectors in contractionary territory - at 48.8 and 49.4 respectively.

The data suggest that the nation’s zero growth trend could continue. INSEE today confirmed that France’s economy managed no growth at all in the second quarter of the year. here is a surprise... for all the EUSSR diplomats' bravado about hurting Russia in the medium and long term... we come to hear about how badly this is hurting the EU itself round about NOW, which will not recover its food market in Russia or have the same growth opportunities there from now on as Russia seeks to cut ties and strengthen their links with the 2/3 of the world population and more than 50% of world GDP that does not have a problem with Putin... anyone up to start calculating how much this is costing the EU? as I don't think we'll be getting that snippet of info out the Treasury any time soon...