Europe: Apocalypse now?

Germany told to act to save Europe - FT.com:

Germany is the only country in Europe that can act to save the eurozone and the wider European Union from “a crisis of apocalyptic proportions”, the Polish foreign minister warned on Monday in a passionate call for more drastic action to prevent the collapse of the European monetary union.

The extraordinary appeal by Radoslaw Sikorski, delivered in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital, came as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development called on European leaders to provide “credible and large enough firepower” to halt the sell-off in the eurozone sovereign debt market, or risk a severe recession.

The OECD’s comments came as the organisation slashed its half-yearly forecasts for growth in the world’s richest countries, warning that economic activity in Europe would grind to a near-halt.

If Europe does reach a financial apocalypse and economic activity there grinds to a near halt, the US will topple right behind. A third of the United States' trade is with Europe. Think we can take that kind of hit without crashing ourselves?

More: OECD: euro collapse would have 'highly devastating outcomes' worldwide

The collapse of the euro could send the world's advanced economies into a severe recession, dragging emerging markets with them into the mire, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned on Monday. ... Pier Carlo Padoan, OECD chief economist, made plain in the body's latest six-monthly economic outlook that the greatest threat to global economic health comes from the eurozone rather than from the tax-and-spend gridlock in the US Congress. ... His comments came amidst evidence that the 17 eurozone countries are even wider apart on the measures required to staunch the exit of global investors and prevent a credit crunch on an even worse scale than in 2008-09.

This is Europe. The moment of verticality is only
days away. 

There simply is no good news from anyone writing about the Eurozone and its future. The SS Europe is sinking and everyone knows it. But the national governments cannot agree on how to stop it. There is some consensus that Germany has to "save Europe," but the fact is that Germany alone cannot do it.

They say that when a ship sinks and you find yourself in the water, you have to get away from the sinking vessel because the water rushing into the ship will drag you along with it. But there is no economy in the world that can "get away" from Europe's impending and by now almost certain collapse. The recession we entered in 2008 will be like a walk in the park to what is coming. It will be a true depression. Ironically, in the short term America's markets will benefit from an inflow of investors' cash as they run away from the collapsing Euro markets. But that won't last.

How long until the sinking European ship turns vertical? Perhaps less than two weeks.