http://bostonglobe.com/business/2012/08/21/europe-leaders-face-post-holiday-blues/VxfklONzCBGxFPGdmjzqaJ/story.html
Southern Europe appears to be in recession again and it's governments appear to be facing the cruel trilema of:
1) Defying the angry mob and instituting austerity measures
2) Begging central and northern Europe for big bailouts
3) Dropping the Euro and floating and then destroying their own currencies
If the status quo continues, it's very possible that central and perhaps even northern Europe will be dragged into recession. On the heels of 5 years of already tough times, can the EU take another blow like this? How long before Germany gets tired of being the buy everyone goes to for charity or until Spain and Greece and Italy stomp out of the room in a huff?
Of course this will impact the US as well.
One of these decades, these irresponsible western governments are going to learn that, by and large, you can only spend about as much as you bring in (give or take a few billion, of course).
4) Using a combination of tax hikes on the wealthy (most of the Southern European economies have very low taxes on the wealthy), tackling tax evasion (a rampant problem in Greece and Italy, for instance) and reducing government waste and corruption to bridge the deficits.
German politicians may sound worried about the bailouts to Greece and Spain, but due to the euro crisis the yield on German bonds has dropped so much that they are now essentially borrowing for free. So the longer the euro crisis lasts, the more matured bonds they will be able to replace with new, nigh-yield-free bonds. Trust me, they are not as worried as they sound.
