The largest economy in the world is the European Union.
This is what has been happening there for years.
Greece and Spain are experiencing economic depressions which
continue to get worse. Italy and France are headed down the same road as Greece and Spain.
Violent protests and economic unrest dominate European
newspapers.
European leaders hold meetings, but all of the
"solutions" that get announced nothing seems to get fixed.
The Greek government said they will completely run out of
cash by the end of November.
The Greek economy contracted by 4.9 percent during
2010 and by 7.1 % during 2011. The Greek economy has contracted by about 20 percent since
2008.
Greece continues to implement wave after wave of austerity
measures which have pushed the country into a deep depression. Greece is still
spending more money than it is bringing in. The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said, "Greek democracy stands before what is
perhaps its greatest challenge, Citizens know that this
government is Greece's last chance."
Samaras has repeatedly
appealed for international lenders at the EU and IMF to relax the extreme conditions
of the bailout.
The solution is not sustainable, borrow more, pass the burden onto the next generation. Eventually the U.S. and much of Europe will follow the same path of financial collapse.
Spain is the 12th largest economy in the world and said it will need no help.
When Greece
first started austerity measures, Spain said it would never happen to them. Spain is in the middle of a down slide akin to
the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The unemployment rate for those under the
age of 25 is now above 50 percent.
True: 9.8 % of all loans Spanish banks hold are
considered to be bad loans.
Manufacturing in Spain has contracted for 17 months in a
row.
The number of corporate bankruptcies in Spain is rising.
Five Spanish regions have requested financial help from the
national government. Spain’s largest bank, Banco Santander SA, lost 6.3 percent of its domestic deposits in July and savings at Banco Popular Espanol SA, fell 9.5 %.
A total of 326 billion euros was removed
by depositors from banks in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece in
the 12 months ended July 31.
Eurobank Ergasias SA, Greece’s
second-largest lender, lost 22 % of its customer deposits in the 12 months
ended March 31. Alpha Bank SA (ALPHA), the country’s
third-biggest, lost 26 % of savings.
The equivalent of 7 % of GDP was withdrawn from the
Spanish banks in the month of July.
But Greece and Spain are not alone in economic distress.
The number of unemployed workers in Italy has risen by more
than 37 percent over the past year.
The unemployment rate in France is now above 10 %, and has
risen for 16 months.
The chief economist at the IMF now says that it will take until 2018 for the global economy to recover.
Depression is sweeping much of south Europe.
The largest economy in the world (EU) is crashing and most persons do not recognize
it.
Dallesport, WA
