CalypsoArt/iStock via Getty Images Originally published on March 24, 2026 Despite the de-escalation talk of the past two days, one of the key barometers of economic pain associated with the war is showing no relief. Remember, we looked at this chart a couple of weeks ago. Both the red and the blue lines show the key spread between Italian yields (Europe’s most fiscally fragile major bond market) a...
CalypsoArt/iStock via Getty Images Originally published on March 24, 2026 Despite the de-escalation talk of the past two days, one of the key barometers of economic pain associated with the war is showing no relief. Remember, we looked at this chart a couple of weeks ago. Both the red and the blue lines show the key spread between Italian yields (Europe’s most fiscally fragile major bond market) and German yields (the anchor). This spread represents the risk premium in Europe. The red line is the 2022 period surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The blue line is the current period (18 trading days into the war). Everything to the right of the black vertical line is the market reaction to the war catalyst. As you can see from the blue line, the risk premium continues to rise, albeit from a low base. But, importantly, it’s been led by Italian 10-year yields that traded over 4% the past two days. And 4% has significance. The European sovereign debt markets started showing stress in the summer of 2022. And it was the sharp move above the 4% level in Italian yields that compelled the ECB to act - restarting QE (QE by a new name, the “Transmission Protection Instrument”) to stabilize bond markets of the weak eurozone countries. This is the place we’ve been watching for the signal that the market expectations are shifting from “short-term pain” to “long-term structural economic damage.” Original Post Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
It will take a positive reaction to the first-quarter sales estimates and SpaceX IPO news. Tesla stock needs to finish above $ 367.96 to snap a five-week losing streak. It’s the longest losing streak since January 2025, when shares fell for nine consecutive weeks.
It will take a positive reaction to the first-quarter sales estimates and SpaceX IPO news. Tesla stock needs to finish above $ 367.96 to snap a five-week losing streak. It’s the longest losing streak since January 2025, when shares fell for nine consecutive weeks.
The German Bureaucratic Dream Of "Society with Bound Capital" Submitted by Thomas Kolbe They form a massive workforce, the last continuously growing sector of our society: civil servants. Approximately 5.5 million employees work in the public sector, and last year alone, 205,000 new civil servants were added. This is by no means a blind attack on the bureaucracy. Civil servants indispensable to ou...
The German Bureaucratic Dream Of "Society with Bound Capital" Submitted by Thomas Kolbe They form a massive workforce, the last continuously growing sector of our society: civil servants. Approximately 5.5 million employees work in the public sector, and last year alone, 205,000 new civil servants were added. This is by no means a blind attack on the bureaucracy. Civil servants indispensable to our society work to maintain internal and external security and uphold the judiciary as guardians of law and order. Yet the question must be allowed. How can a civil service army grow by over 200,000 in a single year, even as artificial intelligence and digital automation could handle repetitive tasks? Across the country – it is an open secret that the public sector functions as a kind of safety net for slowly rising unemployment. Employees often tread on each other’s toes, paralyzed and bored by pseudo-tasks that the political apparatus spontaneously invents to feed its overflowing administration. They have created a fantasy world. A world where budgets not only never run dry but are continuously expanded—producing what could be called a destructive life of its own. Bureaucracies, after all, are social organisms that fight to survive and strive for expansion. There is a surplus of bureaucratic energy, combined with the drive to weave the still young ideology of green socialism into the state. This creates a dangerous mix of ideological messianism and administrative activism, which fools taxpayers into thinking something is being accomplished—even where tasks could clearly be automated and restraint would be better. One of the newer ideas, traceable to the ministerial environment, is the creation of a new corporate legal form. The debate surrounding the upcoming introduction of the Society with Bound Capital offers a deep insight into the ideological and intellectual status quo of the German civil service and state apparatus. The new legal form is intended to prevent profit d...
Nepal’s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah was sworn in as prime minister on Friday after sweeping the first election since deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government last year. The 35-year-old reformist and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) dominated polls this month on a platform of youth-driven political change. “I, Balendra Shah, in the name of the country and people, pledge t...
Nepal’s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah was sworn in as prime minister on Friday after sweeping the first election since deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government last year. The 35-year-old reformist and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) dominated polls this month on a platform of youth-driven political change. “I, Balendra Shah, in the name of the country and people, pledge that I will be loyal to the constitution,” Shah said, dressed all in black, including his trademark...