Why do you make that claim? Norway, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland etc are all experiencing good growth.
Germany is the engine of growth in the Eurozone, because they have the biggest economy and because they have in the past had the best finances and fiscal policies. That has lead to outsized growth. However, they live in a connected world, just as we all do. The Eurozone troubles have dragged Germany down with it and Germany is no longer growing. They are shrinking. So it is not true to say Germany is experiencing good growth. Not only that but key, large economies all across the world are faltering. The probability is extraordinarily high that the US will dip into negative growth shortly. We too are connected and can't escape the world's malaise.
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German economy shows chinks in its armor
 
By Peter Boockvar - May 24th, 2012, 8:08AM
As no one is immune to the travails of debt troubled sovereign nations in Europe, the slowdown in Asia and Latin America and mediocre growth in the US, Germany’s economic stats today showed chinks in its armor. The May German IFO business confidence # fell 3 pts to a 6 month low and was 2.5 pts less than expected. Also, German mfr’g PMI fell to 45, the lowest since June ’09 and this led to the euro zone mfr’g and services composite index to drop also to the weakest since June ’09. French mfr’g PMI fell to 44.4 from 46.9 and business confidence dropped 2 pts to a 3 month low. The UK economy was confirmed to be in an official recession as Q1 GDP was not revised up to a positive reading but was instead revised lower to an even weaker one. On the heels of a non event EU summit and just weeks before another Greek election, every comment from an ECB member will be parsed. ECB member Nowotny this morning said a Greek exit will be a mess but also said “a good central bank is ready for everything” and the “ECB hasn’t used its full arsenal.” In Asia, China’s HSBC flash mfr’g PMI for May fell .6 pts to 48.7, the 7th month in a row below 50. |
