ECB celebrates Euro amid decreasing buying power

We spoke a lot about dollar’s decreasing buying power, it’s about time we speak about the euro.

This week European Central Bank officials had another opportunity to gather and tap each other on the backs: Euro currency is 20 years old next year, and champagne is flowing.

On this occasion there were many discussions of the new banknotes design, but surprisingly not so many about Euro’s decreasing buying power, although this question is by far the most preoccupying for all the Europeans.

DCenter is based in France, and the official inflation here (touted to be one of the lowest throughout the EU) is declared to be 2.8%. However, people who pay for their living couldn’t help but notice much higher prices increase across a wide range of goods: wheat +37%, oil +34%, coffee +89%, electricity +25%, lumber +20%, real estate at all-time high (+11%)…

The officials blame everything on disrupted supply chains, and curiously noone mentions the insane amount of euros that have been created out of thin air for the last two years. The ECB balance sheet has swollen from €4.7Tr to €8.5Tr – almost 2 times!

And still, the ECB President Christine Lagarde multiplies her “reassuring” appearances saying things like “I see an inflation profile that looks like a hump . . . and a hump eventually declines.”

On the one hand, we cannot but admire her hedonism and willingness to enjoy life while her positions allows it. On the other hand, the consequences of such a blissful ignorance could be dramatic for most EU citizens. “Reviewing the look of our banknotes to make them more relatable to Europeans of all ages and backgrounds” will not magically make them a better store of value.

You know what to do. Bitcoin.