US Action News

.. continuing high unemployment, a moribund housing sector, the dire condition of state and local finances, a lack of readily available credit and the ongoing fragility of a banking sector that is still loaded with toxic assets that are significantly overvalued on banks’ balance sheets.

The euro has fallen against key currencies after a credit rating agency said it may downgrade Spain’s debt.

Unions are fighting austerity measures across Europe and plan protests in 12 countries today including Ireland, Italy and Portugal, the European Trade Union Confederation says.

How can we continue to spend almost $5 BILLION per DAY when there is no money and the continued spending WILL crash our economy?

Runaway Debt: Watching Greece and now Portugal verge on financial default due to fiscal profligacy should send a chill up every American’s spine. This is our fate, too, if we don’t change course — and soon. “America is on a path to become a European-style welfare state.”

The socialist welfare model of government demonstrated with acclaim in Europe and promoted in the US by Obama, Reid, Pelosi and the Democrats is doomed to fail. It has never worked anywhere and it won’t work here.

Over the weekend, the debt crisis leached into Spain, a much larger European economy, as the Spanish central bank bailed out a regional bank. Late Monday, four other regional Spanish banks said they would combine because of insolvency worries.

The total amount of debt issued by public and private sector institutions in Greece, Portugal and Spain that is held by financial institutions outside these three countries is roughly €2,000bn ( $2.5 TRILLION dollars ). This is a staggeringly large figure, equivalent to about 22 per cent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product. It is far higher than previous published estimates. It indicates that, if a Greek or Portuguese or Spanish debt default were allowed to take place, the global financial system could suffer terrible damage. Putting it bluntly, Greece partied for too long and has almost certainly left it too late to deal with the hangover.

The falls in Asia come after major markets in the US closed lower overnight, with the Dow Jones shedding 1.2% and the S&P 500 dropping 1.3%.

In a story about Greece getting the first 20 billion of its bailout money, the BBC reveals that a Deputy Tourism Minister Angela Gerekou was dismissed for unpaid taxes. Guess they don’t buy those Geitner excuses over there.