US Action News

[B]ank stocks plunged throughout the continent and impacted the general markets as well. Interest rates climbed and the Euro broke below $1.28 for the first time since September 2010.

The reason that the eurozone faces such hard times is that its leaders have decided to keep the single currency together at any cost. The coming recession is not some inexorable force of nature; it is a consequence of the policies being pursued by Merkozy, Monti, Barroso and the rest. – The Telegraph

Some countries must choose between difficult and very bad, and others are faced with either disaster or calamity. Greece simply gets to choose what it wants to be the cause of a depression. Long and slow or fast and deep? Choose wisely. – Business Insider

Mom and pop will finally clue in to this in 2012, and get -their money- out of harm’s way. Well, either that or lose it. Their money, that is. Perhaps their minds too. And their homes. Their jobs.

“the EU’s bailout-and-borrow policy had taken on a momentum of its own, like a runaway train. That train is now going at maximum speed, and has passed the point where a switch can still be thrown. The only question is when it hits the buffers. My guess is that we are months away.” – MEP Daniel Hannan in The Telegraph. Much the same can be said of the US debt problem.

All these downgrades and rating warnings are not only putting further pressure on the debt crisis now going on for 2+ year, but is also sharpening the picture of a possible breakup of the Euro Zone.

The easiest way to deal with a debt spiral is to let it keep going and going. That is what the United States has done. Sure, “kicking the can down the road” makes the crisis much worse in the long run, but bringing the pain into the present is not a lot of fun either.

“you have decided to head off on the Titanic towards economic and democratic disaster and we are now in a lifeboat outside the Titanic, but we’re threatened by a bow wave that is going to come and engulf us if we’re not careful – and it’s retribution – We’ve heard the language of retribution this morning – financial market legislation is going to be imposed upon Britain and we will have no influence whatsoever over any of it.” – Nigel Farage MEP and Co-President of Europe of Freedom and Democracy

“I think the periphery goes into depression. When you look at a country like Greece, it’s now been in recession for three years. GDP is probably down 15% from the top. The stock market is down 90%, which is the equivalent of 1929 to 1932 in the US. This is depression-like. – Business Insider

No “immediate” crash of the Euro. Where will the trillions come from? UK says no.