Germany’s labor costs rise.  Germany and its rail workers agreed to a pay raise of 11% least week.  Yep, that’s 11%!  (Boy, wouldn’t America’s workers love that!)  Anyway, the sense is that other Euro-zone labor contracts will now use that figure as a benchmark as 150 million employees are in wage talks this year.  Schwartz View:  OMG!  With wage inflation now taking center stage over in Europe it’s no wonder stocks collapsed this week.  Most European central bankers have been fighting rising inflation already and higher labor costs have historically been looked upon as more problematic than higher food and energy costs (which have cycled up and down in the past).  Now Europe has both to worry about!