Could Big European Banks Drag the World Economy Down? by Peter Schiff

The European banking sector may be where the next financial crisis starts, but all of the world’s banks have assets and liabilities far in excess of their capital, and they are all interlinked, so once the crisis starts it will spread quickly. From Peter Schiff at schiffgold.com:

Humans are by nature somewhat myopic. We tend to focus primarily on what is right in front of us and filter out things further removed. As a result, we can sometimes overlook important factors.

As Americans, we generally devote most of our attention on American policy. We follow political maneuverings in Washington D.C., study the Fed’s most recent pronouncements and track the US stock markets. But we also need to remember there is a whole wide world out there that can have a major impact on the larger economy and our investment portfolio.

One factor that could potentially rock the world economy that a lot of American may not be aware of is the mess in the European banking system.

In a recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about the impact the European Central Bank could have on the economy. Mario Draghi’s comments indicating he plans to hold interest rates at zero for another year roiled the markets. But that’s not the only issue facing the eurozone. As economist Dr. Thorsten Polleit noted in a recent article published by the Mises Wire, many euro banks are in “lousy” shape.

So what? you might ask. Well, the European banking system is huge. It accounts for 268% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the euro area. If the sector collapses, that’s bad news for the broader world economy.

One of the biggest problem children in European banking is Deutsche Bank. As of March 2018, the German giant had a balance sheet of close to 1.5 trillion euro, accounting for about 45% of German GDP. Polliet described this as an “enormous, frightening dimension.”

Beware of big banks — this is what we could learn from the latest financial and economic crises 2008/2009. Big banks have the potential to take an entire economy hostage: When they get into trouble, they can drag everything down with them, especially the innocent bystanders – taxpayers and, if and when the central banks decide to bail them out, those holding fiat money and fixed income securities denominated in fiat money.”

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