A Mess In Europe

Europe is in a financial mess.

Most recently there has been a significant amount of media coverage on the civil unrest in Greece and as a spin-off on that reporting it has been revealed that Greece is not the only "euro" nation in financial trouble. Reference is made to the PIIGS as being the biggest worry for the economic and overall stability of an united Europe.

PIIGS stands for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. Each of these nations has huge national debt balances and weak economies. These economies are all in a declined state and cannot be taxed enough to fund on-going government expenses much less the expenses associated with the liquidation of old debts. To make matters worst, the debts of PIIGS are often intertwined with other European nations. Italy owes France over $511.0 Billion. One third of the government debt of Portugal is held by Spain. Germany holds $238.0 Billion of the debt of Spain while France holds $220.0 billion of Spain's debt. All of this interplay calls for only one conclusion - one nation fails financially and all of Europe quickly follows.

In just the past day, Hungary announced that its financial status is much worst than had been reported in the past and it too may need assistance.

Hoping to meet and overcome these growing financial problems, the IMF [remember, headed by a French Socialist] loaned Greece $39.0 billion and "contributed" [does that mean loaned or gifted] $321.0 billion to a European economic stabilization fund. This particular European slush fund is reported to be in an amount in excess of $900.0 billion.

The bottom line is that, while America continues to have a depressed, stagnant economy, Europe's economy is crashing.