Strasbourg Euro Rant HDQT

Kevin: Oy, your roaming investor in the middle of Strasburg, France. Why do you care? Because this is the center of the EU. This is where the Parliament is. This is the epicenter of where all the decisions are made for the European Union.

Now, let's talk about what's happened here, because it's been tumultuous. The last year started almost 35 years ago with just seven countries. Today it's 23, not all of them in good shape, obviously. During the times of economic boom, nobody cared. When things got tight, it became a mess. Countries like Ireland, Romania, and Portugal had billions of euros, dollars if you want, poured into them, and of course, their economies blossomed. But they had a lot of debt, and now it's crushing debt. Countries like Germany are paying the price. Not everybody's happy anymore.

I'll tell you why: there's a lot of inefficiency in this economy. Take, for example, this story. I've rented a van so I can take my crew all over the place—a big Mercedes truck, holds nine people, ten people. So, yesterday we get in it. Great driver, nice guy. After two hours, he pulls over and says, "Oh, I got to stop for 31 minutes." I said, "Qu—he passed the Ombre. Why are you doing that?" He said, "That's the union rule. I can't drive for more than 2 hours at a time." Think about that.

He's got a meter sitting in the truck that says exactly how many minutes he's been working, and I'm paying him while he's walking around having a cigar. Police came by, making sure that he was there for 31 minutes. This is insane. Now this kind of lack of productivity permeates the entire society. So it's a huge balance between quality of life, which is good, and making no money, which is bad. This is why countries like Greece are going to zero. That's a problem.

Now, personally, I love to come here, drink the wine, eat the food. When I want to try and make money here, I don't think so. As an investor, I'm kind of thinking Germany looks good to me, 'cause they sell everything to everybody. But here's a new problem: globalization has hit this place. Just the time when all these countries like Romania, which have low cost, want to make stuff for people, the Chinese hit them with stuff at half the price. That's why they're rock walking around, burning everything around here. They're unhappy about globalization. You know what I say? Too bad, deal with it. Maybe get that guy that's driving the bus to finally drive for 3 hours before he takes half an hour off.

But having said all that, it is the season to be jolly. So wait, check this out: Santa Claus ready! Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, made in China! Till next time, Kevin, o' your investor at large.