Bill Bonner (Daily Reckoning) – In 1949, the Soviets and the Allies divided Germany into two parts. One part followed a traditional capitalistic path to reconstruction. The other part took the socialist road. Remarkably, they kept this test going for 40 years.

Of course it was misery for many of the test subjects.

China is the new Germany. At the end of the Second World War, Germany was an “emerging market.” It was industrializing rapidly and producing brisk economic growth. Today, Germany is a mature “developed market” that grows slowly if it grows at all. Today, China is the new Germany.

It’s the European Central Bank’s 10th birthday party. But not everyone is celebrating… It’s set to be a bubbly few hours in Frankfurt this Monday. The European Central Bank (ECB) is ten years old this weekend, and the bureaucrats at its German HQ have planned quite a party.

The United States is already in a recession and it will be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, U.S. investment guru Warren Buffett said in an interview published Saturday in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

The latest data from the eurozone “looks like a resounding confirmation” of the single currency area’s resilience, said Unicredit.

Investors have been watching Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) Chairman Warren Buffett’s moves for years to see which investments are going to take off next.

Perhaps part of the humor is that this comes at the same time as the price of gasoline went up 3 cents to another record high of an average of $3.70 a gallon. This is up 22% from this time last year! 22 percent! 22! Hahahaha!

A spritely performance from “Old Europe” – France and Germany – helped Eurozone growth exceed expectations in the first quarter.

Powered by the biggest German expansion in 12 years, the European economy shrugged off the U.S. slowdown to post first-quarter growth numbers ahead of analyst estimates.

In the currency market, the dollar was sharply higher against the euro. Late Wednesday, the euro was trading at $1.5881 vs. $1.5993 on Tuesday.