Is Europe becoming uninvestable?

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.ft.com/content/f02cd127-be4a-4de3-a5ad-eb8c01dc7e71#comments-anchor

 

UK can't even cut PIP payments that pay young people to not work. It's an amazing system that makes them wonder why their economic productivity has stagnated for so long...

 

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UK long-term borrowing costs near highest level since 1998

 

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Mark Sobel, a former US Treasury official and US chair of think-tank OMFIF, said that, like other big economies, the UK was “ensnared in a fiscal trap” of anaemic growth and high taxes. 

 

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Mark Dowding, fixed-income chief investment officer at RBC BlueBay Asset Management, said investors were “concerned with inflation [and] UK policy credibility”. He warned that unless the government made spending cuts and the BoE halted QT, “the black hole will keep growing, and the risk is a market tantrum”.

 

https://www.ft.com/content/ca7c4ca5-029e-4675-b7bb-702e6a1c5f8f

 

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UK borrowing costs are the highest in the G7, driven up in recent years by persistent inflation and rising public debt. The higher yields — if sustained — will further erode the chancellor’s headroom against her key fiscal rule. 

 

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Lord Ken Clarke, former Conservative chancellor, claimed Britain was “much nearer to the risk of a financial crisis than the government is remotely acknowledging” and claimed it was not impossible it would have to seek a bailout from the IMF.

 

An IMF bailout???

Edited September 2, 2025 by Dalal.Holdings

[TwoCitiesCapital]

1 hour ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

Just another day of Europe "enforcing democracy". They truly are the last bastion of individual rights and democratic processes. Just need to cancel more elections and spy on their citizens more.

 

 

 

 

Doesn't the NSA have the exact same attitude?

[cubsfan]

10 minutes ago, TwoCitiesCapital said:

 

Doesn't the NSA have the exact same attitude?

 

Definitely!  If we get lucky, they will throw the book at Clapper!

[Dalal.Holdings]

20 minutes ago, TwoCitiesCapital said:

 

Doesn't the NSA have the exact same attitude?

 

Very big difference between intelligence agencies working to get past encryption and it being literally codified into law that all encrypted content will be in government hands indefinitely. I hope you can tell the difference.

 

If Congress were trying to enact a similar law, it would never make it in the U.S. But the EU is not accountable to its people, so it can get away with far more...

[cubsfan]

2 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

Just another day of Europe "enforcing democracy". They truly are the last bastion of individual rights and democratic processes. 

 

More on enforcing democracy - this time in the UK - a preview of what was coming to the United States before the crazies got the boot:

 

Television writer Graham Linehan, best known for creating Father Ted, The IT Crowd, and Black Books, was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday over social media posts about transgender issues.

 

Here is the tweet:

 

If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.

 

https://humanevents.com/2025/09/02/five-officers-take-comedy-writer-graham-linehan-into-custody-at-heathrow-over-tweets?utm_campaign=64470&fbclid=IwY2xjawMkJLpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFvWE5keW9tZHJBaERId2xXAR4sFXgu56Fu58NIW1_cs20aH8E2EDD4ybGPgyVkujfs9fI_5f6FY0-Kw6uu9w_aem_dXNYD72tRcjT-ZYQcjynng

 

Throw the book at him!

[Dalal.Holdings]

Just now, cubsfan said:

 

More on enforcing democracy - this time in the UK - a preview of what was coming to the United States before the crazies got the boot:

 

Television writer Graham Linehan, best known for creating Father Ted, The IT Crowd, and Black Books, was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday over social media posts about transgender issues.

 

Here is the tweet:

 

If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.

 

https://humanevents.com/2025/09/02/five-officers-take-comedy-writer-graham-linehan-into-custody-at-heathrow-over-tweets?utm_campaign=64470&fbclid=IwY2xjawMkJLpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFvWE5keW9tZHJBaERId2xXAR4sFXgu56Fu58NIW1_cs20aH8E2EDD4ybGPgyVkujfs9fI_5f6FY0-Kw6uu9w_aem_dXNYD72tRcjT-ZYQcjynng

 

Throw the book at him!

 

To European politicians, enforcing democracy = suppressing "problematic speech", imprisoning members of "problematic political parties" (and preventing them from ever running for office) and cancelling elections.

 

Or, I can summarize as:

 

"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength"

[TwoCitiesCapital]

55 minutes ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

 

Very big difference between intelligence agencies working to get past encryption and it being literally codified into law that all encrypted content will be in government hands indefinitely. I hope you can tell the difference.

 

If Congress were trying to enact a similar law, it would never make it in the U.S. But the EU is not accountable to its people, so it can get away with far more...

 

I think you meant to say 'Intelligence agencies working extra-judicially and without accountability to access EVERYTHING, without a warrant, and then to pass the nudey-bits they liked around the office while feeding other law enforcement agencies information that was illegally obtained'

 

And no - I really don't see much of a difference. Both are massive encroachments on personal privacy without accountability and are awful policies. But only one is outright lying to its citizens about it's existence. 

 

But for some reason America is soooooo exceptional while Europe is so backwards

 

 

[Dalal.Holdings]

25 minutes ago, TwoCitiesCapital said:

 

I think you meant to say 'Intelligence agencies working extra-judicially and without accountability to access EVERYTHING, without a warrant, and then to pass the nudey-bits they liked around the office while feeding other law enforcement agencies information that was illegally obtained'

 

And no - I really don't see much of a difference. Both are massive encroachments on personal privacy without accountability and are awful policies. But only one is outright lying to its citizens about it's existence. 

 

But for some reason America is soooooo exceptional while Europe is so backwards

 

 

 

Those intelligence agencies do not automatically have access to encrypted data from every citizen like a dragnet. In fact, they usually have to get access from tech companies like Apple. Some companies like Signal do not even allow governments to access their chats much to the Chagrin of Emmanuel Macron and others in Europe.

 

https://www.apple.com/privacy/government-information-requests/#:~:text=What we're commonly asked,Law Enforcement Support Program

 

There are intelligence agencies that work hard to break encryption/into devices of targets they are interested in. I hate to break it to you, but this is not exclusive to U.S. intelligence agencies.

 

Chat control would allow scanning of everyone's data all at once without any ongoing legal investivation and some are suggesting that a permanent repository of data is created to "enforce democracy". It's not hard to see which one is way worse (for me at least).

[Spekulatius]

Sounds a lot like the Patriot act to me. It has been place since 2001 and was never rescinded.

[TwoCitiesCapital]

2 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Sounds a lot like the Patriot act to me. It has been place since 2001 and was never rescinded.

 

Exactly. 

 

And while theyve struggled with encryption in some cases, they found ways around it in others....like illegally hacking Google's cloud data before it hit the encryption point of the process. 

[Dalal.Holdings]

Patriot Act does not force companies like Signal to give all their data up last i checked. Not to mention Patriot act was created when tech was relative infancy to today.

 

But if you want to believe Chat Control will be just like Patriot act, go ahead.

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.ansa.it/amp/english/news/politics/2025/09/03/nato-funds-wont-be-used-for-messina-strait-bridge-govt_fc82e19e-4540-480b-83c4-60bc102f6301.html
 

Another day another European country trying to get out of defense funding…still takes repeated prodding from U.S. officials to get these guys to fund their own defense

 

”The clarification came after United States ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker raised the issue of whether European countries would adopt a broad definition of defence-and-security spending to meet the 5% of GDP target.
    In an interview with Bloomberg, Whitaker said the 5% should not include spending on "bridges that have no strategic military value".”

 

 

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.ft.com/content/d419bd2d-a6ba-44a5-a93a-1276f3e5d2d7

 

Utter insanity...

[Dalal.Holdings]

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Danish Minister of Justice: "We must break with the totally erroneous perception that it is everyone's civil liberty to communicate on encrypted messaging services."

Seems like the folks on R/Europe are not happy with this stance...

 

The best part?

 

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EU politicians exempt themselves from this surveillance under "professional secrecy" rules

 

It's not the first time European politicians have tried to push this measure through...never underestimate the desire and tenacity a Euro politician has for more regulation and more control...

[John Hjorth]

19 minutes ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

Seems like the folks on R/Europe are not happy with this stance...

 

The best part?

 

It's not the first time European politicians have tried to push this measure through...never underestimate the desire and tenacity a Euro politician has for more regulation and more control...

 

Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard is a deranged, stupid socialdemocrat, like so many other idiots, that there are everywhere in Politics, also in Danish Politics. He is seeking attention, because Danish Politicans have started warming up for next election.

 

This has no bearing inside the two other parties participating in the Danish government, Moderaterne and Venstre. So down the drain it goes, also because legal experts find it more than problematic. So, just a so no-go.

Edited September 15, 2025 by John Hjorth

[John Hjorth]

YouTube - Ranking Royals [September 9^th 2025] : Europe's Wealthiest Nations

 

YT commentary :

The Wealthiest European Nations from 1962 to 2024 (Current US$). Europe saw a 45% increase in average wealth in the last decade. The core countries (Germany, France, the UK, and Italy) account for over 70% of Europe’s total net wealth, though smaller nations have far higher per-capita wealth. Smaller states with specialized economies achieve higher per-capita wealth than larger, industrialized nations. Nordic and Alpine states consistently report strong growth, resilience, and innovation-driven prosperity. This Video Shows the wealthiest European Nations from 1962 to 2024 by GDP per capita.

 

 

 

- - - o 0 o - - - 

 

I personally think this supports very well, that the European countries are indeed a very diverse bunch of countries, that it would likely be a mistake to assess and judge as a whole, in one big bunch, or basket.

[Kizion]

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In line with GDPR guidelines, we would like to ask you to share your mobile number via this form. 
Your number will be used solely for practical purposes related to the teambuilding of 24/09, and will be deleted after the event.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

 

Just got this email. I don't like to spend too much energy being frustrated with all the over regulation, but just received above mail from someone within my company. 

My number is at the closing of all my mails, in our who-is-who and in my Outlook contact card. If I need to give my permission for each occasion that my number can be used, damn. 

 

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-29/uk-lenders-slump-after-new-calls-for-bank-windfall-tax-in-budget

 

*European business finally gets some nicely positive results after years of pain*

 

European Politicians: "Time for some windfall taxes"

 

Be careful out there...

 

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High street banks have enjoyed a “staggering” state subsidy on the Bank of England’s quantitative-easing program in recent years that has both inflated their profits and boosted their share prices, according to the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research. Reeves should consider recovering the profits banks are making from taxpayers on deposits held at the BOE, the IPPR argued.

 

 

 

The best part about taxing banks' windfall profits? Will decrease the amount of lending/capital deployed in the broader economy.

 

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The UK charges banks an extra 3% corporation tax on profits, as well as a levy of between 0.05% and 0.1% on domestic assets. 

 

 

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“It would seem slightly bizarre for the government to produce a 76-page document in July on a Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, highlighting financial services as a major growth engine for the UK economy, and then tax the main sources of that growth,” said Edward Firth, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. 

 

Absolutely brilliant stuff coming out of these influential leftist think tanks that have a lot of pull with Euro politicians. No wonder they claim anyone who disagrees with them is a "far right extremist!"

 

The leftists have done wonders for the continent over the years--shut down nuclear power, everyone has to do ESG statements (but none of the automakers can make competitive EVs vs Tesla or BYD), AI Act, tech regulations, etc. 

[Parsad]

While in London, I stayed at the exact same hotel and room as two years ago.

 

See the number cranes to the left of the London Eye:

 

 

Even though the shot from last week was at night, you can see that the number of cranes is close to triple the previous amount...all of the red lights to the left of the London Eye. 

 

 

I also saw plenty of redevelopment happening, new restaurants and retail opening where others had closed.  Things were bustling in stores and well known tourist areas.  The same for Paris...in fact I've never seen crowds as big as I saw at the Galerie Lafayette on a Saturday afternoon...not on Fifth Avenue in New York, not on Oxford Street during London Fashion Week last week...London and Paris were extremely busy everywhere we went.

 

Cheers!

[John Hjorth]

On 9/30/2025 at 11:57 PM, Parsad said:

While in London, I stayed at the exact same hotel and room as two years ago.

 

See the number cranes to the left of the London Eye:

 

 

Even though the shot from last week was at night, you can see that the number of cranes is close to triple the previous amount...all of the red lights to the left of the London Eye. 

 

 

I also saw plenty of redevelopment happening, new restaurants and retail opening where others had closed.  Things were bustling in stores and well known tourist areas.  The same for Paris...in fact I've never seen crowds as big as I saw at the Galerie Lafayette on a Saturday afternoon...not on Fifth Avenue in New York, not on Oxford Street during London Fashion Week last week...London and Paris were extremely busy everywhere we went.

 

Cheers!

 

Thank you for sharing, Sanjeev [ @Parsad ],

 

Now that's certainly striking!

 

 

[Parsad]

On 10/2/2025 at 10:45 AM, John Hjorth said:

 

Thank you for sharing, Sanjeev [ @Parsad ],

 

Now that's certainly striking!

 

 

 

No problem John!  It's just interesting that two years ago, people were suggesting that Europe Was Uninvestable...yet here we are today and things have moved up about 25%-30%.  Whenever people start clamoring about uninvestable...you know it may be time to look at that investment or area.  Cheers!

[Spekulatius]

9 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

No problem John!  It's just interesting that two years ago, people were suggesting that Europe Was Uninvestable...yet here we are today and things have moved up about 25%-30%.  Whenever people start clamoring about uninvestable...you know it may be time to look at that investment or area.  Cheers!

Yes, being “uninvestible” is as strong of a contrarian signal, as you can get.

[formthirteen]

1 hour ago, Spekulatius said:

Yes, being “uninvestible” is as strong of a contrarian signal, as you can get.

 

Thank you for reminding me to ask my junior research assistant (ChatGPT) to send a monthly email report on the most hated countries and sectors. It gave me a report with a link to this Gloomberg article:

China Road Trip Exposes List of Uninvestable Assets in the West

https://archive.is/mXebA

 

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“We just saw the most automated, most advanced manufacturing line, and they had 12 of them in parallel, and many more around them,” says Jacob Bro, co-founder and partner at 2150. “And when you see that, you also just realize that catching up to that is futile: it’s not going to happen.”

 

I wonder if it works both ways?

 

Spoiler

What investments does everyone hate right now? List the 3 most hated sectors and 3 most avoided countries based on media coverage and analyst ratings. Remind me monthly.

 

[Spekulatius]

Gemini’s answer:

 

[Spekulatius]

ChatGPT’s not so great: