I am also afraid that GDP figures cannot be trusted, because they are increasingly becoming a tool to support either the own currency or the own equity markets. Since inflation figures are also manipulated, real GDP figures are probably even harder to trust.

I have noticed at CNBC that many guests from the USA and Britain like to emphasize that things are worse in continental Europe. And since continental Europe does not have a spokesperson, except for the ECB, which almost by mandate remains on the background, you can say anything about the European economy even without proving the evidence, because there is no-one asking for that evidence.

The same applies vis-a-vis China, which has been attacked many times by the media. However, the Chinese do have means to react.