Flights: Canceled
Chaos in Europe as record inflation disrupts work and play across the continent
(Source: Getty Images)
Joel Bowman, checking in on the state of the world from Broxbourne, England...
Welcome to another Sunday Sesh, dear reader, that time of the week where we pull up a chair at the local (read: digital) watering hole and puzzle out the world’s problems... one glass of malbec warm English pint at a time.
As regular readers know, we’ve escaped the southern hemisphere for the winter (their winter). Behind us, we leave Argentina’s economic uncertainty... runaway inflation... political muckraking... protests... strikes... and general mayhem...
... only to arrive in Europe to discover economic uncertainty... runaway inflation... political muckraking... protests... strikes... and general mayhem.
Not to mention a hot war, right on the doorstep.
No Winners Here
Like the now-forgotten Covid pandemonium, the situation in the Ukraine lingers at the edge of every conversation. Yellow and blue flags fly in every other shop window. Taxi apps ask if you’d like to donate to “the Ukrainian people.” Menus proclaim the chef’s allegiance, noting that a percentage of the night’s take will go to help fund “the effort.”
We’ve spoken to Russian and Ukrainian citizens, both displaced because of decisions made by people they will never meet, who care nary a jot for their wellbeing or livelihoods. (We’re penning a longer piece on this subject, which will be forthcoming in a future Sesh.)
Needless to say, there are no winners here. Only casualties. Alas...
And now, as if all that wasn’t enough, the poor Europeans are facing severe travel disruptions, impacting everything from work commutes to business travel to (long-overdue) summer vacations.
Newswires were on the job this week (in the Queen’s English, no less)…
(Reuters) - Labour strife in Europe is driving expectations of more travel headaches during the busy summer season, with airports and airlines clamouring to find more workers, minimize cancelled flights and reduce delays for passengers.
On Thursday, some 1,000 SAS pilots in Denmark, Norway and Sweden said they could go on strike from late June, even as workers at France's Charles de Gaulle airport walked off the job, with a quarter of flights cancelled.
Airlines, battered by a slump in travel during the pandemic, have been counting on a strong summer, with fares rising to offset higher fuel costs and pilots and cabin crews making a case for higher pay due to inflation.
While budget carrier Norwegian Air reached a wage deal with the Norwegian union representing pilots for 2022 and 2023, crews from three budget carriers including Ryanair, walked off the job on Wednesday.
What’s going on? Not unlike their American cousins across the Atlantic, the Europeans are reaping the consequences of having fiddled with their money. (Namely, by printing too damned much of it.) Inflation in the Eurozone, measured at 8.1% in May, is the highest it’s been since the technocrats began their whacky currency experiment, back in 1999. Prices across the continent have been rising for 10 straight months.
Food and Fuel Fire
Here in the UK, too, inflation continues to burn holes in consumers’ pockets. We snapped this photo outside the Paddington tube station a couple of days ago...
Currency Conflagration
Put simply, workers’ real wages (adjusted for inflation) are falling. All of a sudden, things that were once taken for granted – filling the tank, buying groceries, paying the kid’s school fees, etc. – are now serious stressors to the family budget. Hence the strikes seen all across the continent... and here in the UK, too. Again, the papers...
“Strikes cripple Britain’s railway, staff vote for walk out” (Reuters)
“More rail strikes extremely likely, says union boss” (The BBC)
“UK Hobbled by largest strike in three decades” (New York Times)
Amidst the ongoing chaos here in London this week... and some imminent travel plans of our own that have now been thrown into serious question... we managed to catch up with ByteTree founder and editor of the prestigious Fleet Street Letter, one of the oldest financial publications in the UK, Mr. Charlie Morris.
A veteran investment banker and multi-asset fund manager, Charlie was full of insights on stocks, gold, interest rates, crypto and plenty more. He also explained to us ByteTree’s unique BOLD Index, which aims to give investors risk-adjusted exposure to both Bitcoin and Gold (rebalanced monthly).
Please enjoy the full recording here...
... and look out for a full transcription in the coming days.
As always, don’t forget to like, share and comment on this post. It’s free… and worth every penny!
We’ll return next week with a fuller picture of the situation... hopefully from our planned destination (fingers crossed).
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
Great article as ever but the index you mention is ‘Bold’ as in Bitcoin and Gold in a 20% : 80 % ratio rather than Bond - not a place you want to be at the moment!
Canada and NATO supply weapons to Ukraine....Ukraine supplies the dead! This could have been settled peacefully with No NATO and Neutrality for Ukraine. Alas the insane are running the asylum.