Coppola Comment

From @MineforNothing on Twitter comes this chart: Now, we know Finland is in a bit of a mess. A series of nasty supply-side shocks has devastated the economy. When Nokia collapsed in the wake of the 2007-8 financial crisis, ripping a huge hole in the country's GDP, the government responded with substantial fiscal support. This wrecked its formerly virtuous fiscal position: it switched from a 6% budget surplus to a 4% deficit in one year, and although its deficit has improved slightly since, it is still outside Maastricht limits. Because of this, the current government - under pressure from the insane Eurocrats - is implementing fiscal austerity to bring the budget deficit back below 3% of GDP. For an economy which has suffered a serious reduction in its productive capacity, this is disastrous. The austerity measures will neither reduce the deficit nor restore the economy. On the contrary, they will cause the economy to shrink and consequently - through simple arithmetic - i

Anti-austerity demonstrators in Helsinki, Finland The ratings agency Fitch has affirmed the AAA rating on Finland's sovereign debt. But on reading Fitch's analysis , the justification for this is very hard to see. Finland's economic situation is, to say the least, dire.  This is what Fitch has to say about it: The Finnish economy is adjusting to sector-specific shocks in key industries (electronics, communications and forestry), is already experiencing the impact of an ageing population through a declining labour force, and is exposed to the weakness of Russia's economy (Russia is Finland's second-largest export market). The structural decline of key industries and a shrinking labour force have led to a sharp decline in productivity growth and in estimates of potential growth. So, a serious fall in productive capacity due to supply-side shocks, unfavourable demographics and a Russian problem. This has significantly weakened Finland's external position:

Eurozone growth figures came out today. And they are horribly disappointing. Everyone undershot, apart from Spain which turned in a remarkable 1% quarter's growth, and Greece which somehow managed an even more incredible 0.8% (yes, I will write about this, but not in this post). France  didn't grow at all, Italy all but stagnated at 0.2%, and even the mighty Germany only managed 0.4%. Despite low oil prices, falling commodity prices, weak Euro and the ECB's QE programme, Eurozone quarterly growth is a miserable 0.3%. Maybe it's just me, but I can't help thinking that something just isn't working in the Eurozone. Among the most disappointing performances was Finland's. Back in May, the European Commission confidently predicted that growth would return in 2015: But what is actually happening is this (this chart includes today's figures): Finland has been in recession for most of the last three years. True, towards the end of 2014 it d