From IceCap Asset Management, June 2012
Cool Thins From Europe
Let’s face it – Europe is a cool place.
In addition to being cool, Europe is also without a doubt the most creative and imaginative place outside of Middle Earth. Its ability to consistently baffle itself certainly warrants valuable space in IceCap’s global market outlooks.
Financially speaking, Europe is broke - it no longer works.
Figuratively speaking, Europe has entered its golden age.
Unworkable solutions dreamt by an unworkable political system is consuming all real and electronic ink known to mankind. A day doesn’t go bye where local newspapers are not bursting with news on Greece, Spain and their Euro-cousins. This sudden love-in with Europe has surely removed America from the global spotlight. But, be patient as this will change later during the year.
To demonstrate the absurdity of this place called Europe, one has to understand nothing else except the legalities behind Europe’s rules for selling cabbage to each other.
Mike Shedlock (Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis) points out that only in Europe, would regulations for selling this very basic vegetable require a 26,911 word document. For comparison, the entire US Constitution with all 27 Amendments only used 7,818 words.
To further understand this cool place called Europe, we’ll introduce you to the main groups responsible for providing a solution to their debt crisis.
European Union
There shouldn’t be anything baffling about the formation and structure of the European Union, but there is.
It seems that this select group of countries has agreed to do business together through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states. We have no idea what this means.
There are also many very important institutions in the EU including the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council. Don’t laugh, but the Council of the European Union and the European Council are two different groups - we kid you not.
We’d be embarrassed if we forgot to mention the European Parliament. This eclectic group sits in Brussels with each member receiving very nice pay cheques and benefits yet at the end of the day they play second fiddle to the elected governments from each country within the European Union.
Speaking of countries, members of the European Union includes Europe’s favourite 27 countries. To be a member you simply have to be a country not called Switzerland or Norway. Yes, neither Switzerland nor Norway are members.
Baffled yet? Then, let’s move on.
Euro-zone
If the European Union didn’t baffle you, well perhaps the Euro-zone will.
The Euro-zone is another member only group that includes 17 countries of the 27 countries that make up the European Union. Each of these 17 countries converted their currency into Euro’s. Meanwhile, the remaining 10 countries continue to use their own currency while remaining a part of the system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states.
And, in case you are curious, it’s unimportant to know that this currency mish mash hasn’t changed anything of substance at the Council of the European Union or the European Council. Now not just anyone can become a part of the Euro-zone. First, you must be a member of the European Union and be willing to relinquish control over interest rates and other important monetary policy tools. More importantly, you must sign the Maastricht Treaty which explicitly states financial criteria necessary to become a member of the Euro-zone. Criteria includes:
1) Annual government spending must never be more than 3% of the taxes you collect
2) Your total debt outstanding should never be more than 60% of your economy’s GDP.
Considering no European country except Switzerland and Norway has ever achieved these rather unlofty goals, the Maastricht Treaty certainly ranks high up there on the bafflement scale.
The list continues in the full presentation (pdf [8]) or below
IceCap-Asset-Management-Limited-Global-Markets June 2012 [9]