Harald Schumann
Harald Schumann (b. 1957) is a German author and investigative journalist for Der Tagesspiegel, former editor at Der Spiegel and co-author of the international best-seller “The Global Trap” (St Martin's Press 1996).
Updated: 23 February 2012
They sell cement, televisions or coffee. They drive up prices and cost consumers billions. Cartels act illegally, and yet seemingly having nothing to fear. In Europe, it turns out, price-fixing by cartels is a mere misdemeanour, like a traffic violation. 
In their bid to cope with debts, governments are taxing the middle classes, and overlooking the fact that bad investments — banks, property, public debt — made by the wealthy, are the cause of the current crisis. Taking up this idea, the liberal Der Tagesspiegel argues that the well-off should dig deeper. 
The Brussels financial lobby seems all powerful. Since the Lehman crash of 2008, it has stalled all attempts to reform the financial market in Europe. But things should be changing now: Europe has hired an anti-lobby.