If the E.U. Elite have their way they will not allow the EU Project to die or fail, not at least until they have stolen what they see and believe is justly theirs and as far as I can ascertain they are about ten years into the final stages of the grand plan, the Elite being the people behind the showmen at the forefront.
Mrs. Merkel is just such another Maggie a strong woman politician placed in her position by election where as Barosso, van Rumpuy, Drahgi etc. were mere placements and through general agreement cannot be removed other than by death or resignation, a most unsatisfactory arrangement; sooner or later the whole edifice will collapse for my part the sooner the better....

The euro is still stronger than the US dollar.  Europe went socialist with a medium to small sized economies and the US is trying to go socialist with a much larger economy but give us time we will also self destruct like the southern Europe is.  I include France in that group also. 

Of course this fall will be followed by the rest of Europe. Fortunately USA has a slim chance to correct our socialism issues. Europe does not  as they are to far ingrained in their economies.
Catastrophic though it certainly is there may yet still be more mileage in the troublesome euro and EU project but the end is nigh....Well..."The economic situation is worsening from month to month, and unemployment has reached a level that puts democratic structures ever more in doubt," Oskar Lafontaine the founder of Euro said !

Where is the money going? It is being transferred onto the balance sheets of bankrupt banks from the taxpayers. Banks then use it hike their salaries repair their pension funds. Then the attempt to repair and cover up for their disastrous lending practices.

They starve the real economy of working capital. It was decided in the European looney union that every banks was too big to fail. Now they have decided to let whole countries go to the wall because their banking policies were another disaster. Hans Werner Sinn suddenly copped that the obligations of the top 6 debtor countries is over 8.3 trillion. The gloves are off and now they are in confiscatory mode not just hitting bond holders but large depositors who are going to have to flee very fast if they are to escape with their wealth.Make you laugh when you see Osborne, in the middle of all this, trying to buy the next election taking people for complete fools by handing them loans they would otherwise be able to afford. People should consider that act of treachery as tantamount to being handed a long length of rope with which to hang themselves and their families. Forget Osborne and his ilk, keep saving and you will get them for the price of your savings in due course.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti resigned on Friday after a year of battling the debt crisis with austerity and reforms and selling his nation to the germans as lawmakers gave final approval to a budget bill that will pave the way for early elections. Monti said earlier he would step down once the vote was approved, kicking off a campaign that will likely see Italy go to the polls on February 24, with former premier Silvio Berlusconi and centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani already in the running. After Christmas mass in the prime minister's residence, Monti joked about the end-of-world Mayan prophecy saying: "A year ago this government was only just beginning. Now we will have to wrap up and it's not the fault of the Mayas." He then addressed Italy's ambassadors abroad saying his speech would be his "last act" before handing in his resignation. "Thank you for these difficult but fascinating 13 months," he said. Monti could also join the campaign and is under strong domestic and international pressure to do so. He is expected to reveal his future political ambitions at an end of year press conference scheduled for Sunday. Sources close to the technocrat premier insist he has not yet decided whether to enter the fray, despite appearing to launch a bid for a weighty role in the campaign with a rousing speech at a Fiat factory on Thursday. Some political observers have said Monti could campaign as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition that has been likened to the Christian-Democrats who dominated Italy for decades. Monti's name cannot officially be on the ballot as he is already a senator for life, but he can still be appointed to a post in government including prime minister or finance minister after elections. The centrist agenda will include "historic reforms" and "far deeper liberalization than we have witnessed so far", sources quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily. Monti, 69, defended on Thursday the "bitter medicine" of budget discipline he has implemented as well as his selling his people to the "Fourth Reich" and warned against any attempt to turn back the clock. Another words, he wants a German governor and a nation of enslaved Italians!!!

Bad news...

BRUSSELS -- Unemployment across the 17 countries that use the euro remained at its record high rate of 11.4 percent in August renewing concerns that efforts to slash debts have sacrificed jobs.

While European leaders have calmed financial markets in recent months with promises to cut spending and build a tighter union, they haven't solved the eurozone's deep-rooted economic problems and the rising tide of joblessness. In August, 34,000 more people lost their jobs in the eurozone, according to data released Monday by the European statistics agency, Eurostat. The unemployment rate – the highest since the euro was created in 1999 – is the same as July's, which was revised up from 11.3. Europe's problems are dragging down the global economy. The region is the U.S.'s largest export customer and any fall-off in demand will hit American companies – as well as President Barack Obama's election prospects. The U.S.'s 8.1 percent unemployment rate is already making re-election an uphill battle for the president. The eurozone is in danger of slipping into recession this year after its economic output dropped 0.2 percent in the second quarter. Six countries in the eurozone – Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Malta and Portugal – are already in recession. Howard Archer, the chief economist for IHS Global Insight, said it will take some time before Europe's labor market rebounds. "There looks to be a very real danger that the eurozone unemployment rate could reach 12 percent in 2013," he said. He thinks that will be the high-water mark, hit somewhere around the end of next year. While austerity measures were introduced to ease the financial crisis by lowering public debt, they are also slowing down economies as government spending drops off. This is also pushing unemployment higher and threatening the continent with recession. Some experts urge leaders to instead loosen spending to encourage growth.

MEANWHILE - a dengerous development :
Turkey's military have struck targets inside Syria in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory which killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office said in a statement.
The mortar fired from the Syrian side into the region of Akçakale sparked an urgent round of meetings with military chiefs and led the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmed Davagotlu, to formally complain to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
"Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement; targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar," the statement from Erdogan said. "Turkey will never leave unanswered such kinds of provocation by the Syrian regime against our national security."
Nato said it was following developments and senior officials would meet urgently to discuss the issue. Turkey is a member state of the powerful body and earlier this year invoked a clause in the Nato treaty which called on it to respond to an earlier clash in which a Turkish jet was shot down from inside Syria.
The escalating border tensions came amid a day of grave violence inside Syria, with central Aleppo ravaged by three large explosions that killed at least 41 people and the capital Damascus again the scene of fierce clashes between loyalists and rebels and security sweeps by regime forces.
The Aleppo bombings were among the biggest seen in Syria in 18 months of uprising. Attackers, believed to have been dressed in military fatigues, are thought to have convinced regime soldiers stationed in Saadallah al-Jabiri Square to let them enter the secure zone. They are then thought to have detonated the bombs believed to have been packed into cars

There must be times when Elsa Fornero feels she has the world's worst job. When the 63-year-old stepped out to buy a new pair of shoes last weekend, she was accompanied by no fewer than 10 police officers: six plainclothes bodyguards and another four to close off the pedestrian precinct in Turin where she went shopping. There are anti-mafia prosecutors who get less protection. But then Fornero is Italy's welfare and employment minister, and the architect of labour reform laws that were approved by the cabinet on Friday. Among other things, it will now be easier for bosses to axe workers in an economic downturn. The last full-scale attempt to free up Italy's labour market was 10 years ago. The man behind that reform was Marco Biagi who was shot dead by the self-styled New Red Brigades. Three years earlier, the same group murdered Massimo D'Antona, another academic who was the adviser on employment law reform to the then centre-left government. Clearly, some people feel Fornero, an economics professor at the University of Turin, should meet the same fate: a demonstrator was photographed earlier this week outside parliament in Rome wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Fornero for the cemetery".The New Red Brigades, several of whose members had links with the most extreme wing of the trade union movement, have since been dismantled. But labour law reform remains Italy's hottest political potato. A two-tier labour market divides virtually un-sackable, mainly older workers in indefinite employment from younger ones hired on an endless succession of short-term contracts that offer them almost nothing in the way of welfare benefits. The Fornero reform also includes measures to encourage bosses to give younger people apprenticeships, which guarantee modest welfare benefits and offer the chance of a long-term engagement. The minister behind it has shown a rare - but seemingly unwished for - ability to attract attention. In December, she broke down in tears at a press conference as she announced an end to inflation-indexing for all but the lowest pension bands. The move was later reversed.

Europe has been plunged into a fresh crisis after France admitted it had been stripped of its coveted AAA rating in a mass downgrade of at least half a dozen eurozone countries by the credit ratings agency S&P. Share prices plunged, the euro dropped to a 16-month low against the dollar and the European Central Bank was forced to step in to buy Italian bonds after European sources admitted action by the credit ratings agencies was imminent. Bringing an abrupt end to the uneasy calm that has existed in the eurozone since the turn of the year, the heavily-trailed S&P move rekindled financial market anxiety about a Greek default and possible break-up of the single currency. Nicolas Sarkozy was due to go on national TV to explain the humiliating loss of France's top-rated status, leaving Germany as the only other major economy inside the eurozone with a AAA rating. French finance minister François Baroin downplayed the move, saying it was "not a catastrophe". Germany and the Netherlands were quick to make it clear they were not on the list of targeted countries circulated by S&P to European capitals ahead of an announcement that was expected to be made after the close of business on Wall Street. Investors piled into safe haven assets such as the dollar, while the UK was rewarded with even lower borrowing costs as 10-year bonds slipped below 2%. Britain is not at imminent risk of a downgrade. Mr Baroin was talking on France 2 television. More on what he said: I confirm that France has received, like most eurozone countries, a notification of a change of its rating [...] It's a downgrade, a one-notch change, it's the same agency that downgraded the United States [...] It means we must follow and amplify reforms. We must be bold. We must preserve employment. Mr Baroin says most eurozone countries have been notified of an S&P downgrade.

Any downgrades would also tarnish the credibility of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the eurozone's €440bn bail-out fund that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy fought so hard to secure (and the one that was nearly brought down by Slovakia). If France loses its AAA rating, then Germany would be the only top-rated main backer left. The EFSF is also currently on downgrade review. In December, S&P said: Our 'AAA' long- and 'A-1+' short-term ratings on EFSF are based on (i) the unconditional, irrevocable, and timely guarantees from EFSF members (guarantor members) rated 'AAA' by Standard & Poor's that support EFSF's obligations (bonds, notes, commercial paper, debt securities, or other financing arrangements) and, (ii) the 'AAA' rated securities that constitute EFSF's liquidity reserves. Standard & Poor's has placed the 'AAA' long-term issue ratings on EFSF's guarantor members Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands on CreditWatch negative (see "Standard & Poor's Puts Ratings On Eurozone Sovereigns On CreditWatch With Negative Implications," published on Dec. 5, 2011), indicating our view of their increased credit risks. In other words, the EFSF is only as good as its backers.

The Italian connection - BCE

For months, European media have focused on "Merkozy"—German Chancellor Angela Merkel's partnership with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. As Europe's leaders prepare for a decisive summit on Friday, however, hopes for a breakthrough in the euro-zone debt crisis may hinge on a different pairing: that of the German chancellor and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. With pressure from financial markets rising, the German leader and Italian central banker appear to be the only Europeans with the political clout and purse to save the euro. What is less clear is how far each is willing to go and how long they will wait. Mr. Draghi and many of his colleagues on the ECB governing council are reluctant to take radical steps that could cause a political backlash against the central bank in Germany, Europe's largest economy and the ECB's biggest financial backer. "Draghi knows that one country in Europe has a 28% share in the ECB," said Michael Fuchs, a senior lawmaker in Ms. Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union. "It would be smart" if Mr. Draghi continued to heed the sensibilities of his biggest shareholder, Mr. Fuchs added. Yet most economists say the crisis has become so bad that only the ECB, with its ability to create euros, can prop up bond markets and make sure countries such as Italy and Spain can refinance their debts in the market. Ms. Merkel and other German government officials usually refrain from commenting publicly on ECB decisions, in keeping with Germany's belief that central banks should be independent. In negotiations behind closed doors, however, the German government is showing more openness to a bigger ECB firefighting role in the euro crisis. Economists say the ECB will likely cut its key interest rate as soon as Thursday—or if not, then almost certainly in January. Many also expect Mr. Draghi to announce on Thursday that the ECB will lend to banks for longer maturities and with looser collateral requirements. Mr. Draghi's words on whether the ECB is prepared to give the IMF a loan to strengthen the IMF's role in Europe will also be watched closely. But Mr. Draghi isn't expected to change his stance just on ECB bond-buying, the policy that economists say really matters. Last week, he hinted that the ECB stands ready to help governments more, provided governments help themselves first by agreeing to a stricter budgetary regime. "Other elements might follow, but the sequencing matters," Mr. Draghi said.

Italy's borrowing costs rocketed upwards today, but the US can now enjoy much lower rates. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell to 1.97pc this afternoon, down from 2.08pc late yesterday. Silvio Berlusconi has anointed as his likely successor a 41-year-old Sicilian lawyer, Angelino Alfano, best known for trying, as justice minister, to guarantee the Italian prime minister immunity from prosecution in the courts. As investors fretted over the effects on the eurozone of a prolonged period of political uncertainty in Italy, the interest rate on Italian five-year government bonds shot above 7%. When 10-year bonds have gone beyond this level, other countries have sought a bailout. The move on the debt markets prompted a sharp about-turn on stock markets in Europe, which had opened higher. Alfano, the secretary of Berlusconi's party, the Freedom People, was in "pole position" to be the right's candidate at the elections he wants to see early next year, the departing PM told one of his own television channels on Wednesday. His appointment would signal a "generational change", Berlusconi said. In another interview, given late last night to the daily La Stampa, Berlusconi said: "I shall not be standing again. Indeed, I feel liberated. Now is Alfano's moment. He'll be our candidate for prime minister. He's very clever, better than one might think, and his leadership has been accepted by all." Berlusconi told the president, Giorgio Napolitano, on Tuesday evening he would resign once parliament had approved the economic austerity measures agreed with the European institutions. Interviewed on the state-owned RAI radio network, the prime minister said he would appeal to the opposition not to oppose the measures on their way through parliament. Early estimates suggested they could be approved in 10 to 15 days. But opposition politicians said Berlusconi and his allies might seek to drag out the process.

Italy - trouble in paradise

Italian bonds rise past 'unsustainable' 7% barrier and the country enters bail-out territory, with the ECB reportedly buying country's debt and Germany under pressure to act to save monetary union. The spread between French and benchmark German bonds hits new record high of 148 basis points. When, like Italy, you have a €1.9 trillion debt pile should it really matter if the market charges you 6.7pc or 7.4pc to service it? The Telegraph's Louise Armitstead believes it may not matter to the country but it does matter to the EU. Once yields go above 7pc they rarely come down again because a self-fulfilling spiral takes hold. Once above the 7pc mark, Greece lasted just 13 days before requesting a bail-out. Ireland lasted 15 days. Portugual held out longer but succombed after 49 days. The reason that the Italian public have a right to be angry over how their country has been run: In the past, Italy used to devalue its currency to regain its competitive position, in the Euro, it cannot do that. To increase competitiveness within the Euro involves painful reform, like the wage cuts seen in Ireland. Can you see the Italians going for that solution? They have been mislead by their politicians for years, promising them the Dolce Vita. And just like the Greeks they are slowly waking up to the realisation that this promised life of pleasure was a dream that is fast disappearing as dawn breaks ... or until "the german governor" is appointed , just like in Greece's case !

Berlusconi told President Giorgio Napolitano that he would remain in charge until the Stability Act of austerity measures was passed. The time frame of the law’s passage is not set, raising the prospect of days or even weeks of uncertainty. In a statement last night, the president said Mr Berlusconi saw the “urgent need” of passing the austerity budget which has been demanded by European leaders. Mr Berlusconi told his family-owned media channels he could “see only the prospect of new elections – parliament is paralysed”. Ferdinando Casini, head of the opposition party UDC, told reporters he is “convinced that Berlusconi understands the current economic and political situation does not allow for a long and extenuated election campaign”. Earlier Mr Berlusconi, who has dominated Italian politics for 17 years, narrowly survived a budget vote but lost his parliamentary majority. Describing his opponents as “traitors”, he initially refused to quit. But the president called Mr Berlusconi to a meeting amid warnings from the opposition that they would not back austerity measures while he was in power. Italian borrowing costs, which fell in anticipation of Mr Berlusconi’s resignation, spiked as the vote confirmed his survival. Italian 10-year bonds soared to 6.77pc – a 15-year high. Traders fear that Italy will not be able to service its €1.9trillion debt pile without an international bail-out, which Europe is currently unable to provide.

Europe could melt down in two weeks — three tops — and take the world down with it, IMF adviser and Harvard economist Robert Shapiro says.
The fate of the industrial world's economy lies in European policymakers' hands.
"If they cannot address [the financial crisis] in a credible way I believe within perhaps 2 to 3 weeks we will have a meltdown in sovereign debt which will produce a meltdown across the European banking system," Shapiro tells the BBC, as reported by Zero Hedge. "We are talking about the largest banks in the world, the largest banks in Germany, the largest banks in France, that will spread to the United Kingdom, it will spread everywhere because the global financial system is so interconnected. All those banks are counterparties to every significant bank in the United States, and in Britain, and in Japan, and around the world."
Greece has been teetering on the brink of default for a while now, and European officials have been working with the country to keep it in the eurozone via aid packages. A default on its debts could damage the European banking system since banks across the continent are either directly or indirectly exposed to Greek debt.
U.S. banks exposed to Greek banks will feel the heat as well should Greece default and spark a crisis similar to the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008.
"This would be a crisis that would be in my view more serious than the crisis in 2008," Shapiro adds.

As Italy's borrowing costs soared and its stock markets plummeted, last week the ECB's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, and his designated successor, the Italian central bank governor Mario Draghi, wrote to Berlusconi listing the demands he would have to meet if the bank were to intervene and buy Italy's embattled bonds. According to one report, the ECB's demands were set out in humiliating detail. Last Friday, Berlusconi promised a broad range of structural reforms and announced he was bringing forward to 2013 the target date for the elimination of Italy's budget deficit. A new package of measures is due to be endorsed at a cabinet meeting that could be held as early as Friday. Berlusconi's right-wing government has said the package will be enacted by decree, but it would then need to be approved in parliament. Bossi, the leader of the Northern League, called the ECB's letter "an attempt to overthrow the government". In a reference to Draghi that suggested the central banker harboured political ambitions, Bossi said: "I fear that this letter was done in Rome. He's gone from here into Europe, but he's always in Rome." Draghi has been touted as the possible leader of a non-party, or cross-party, cabinet to lead the country were Berlusconi to fall. Bossi also made it clear he was not happy with suggestions that the ECB wanted pension cuts. Berlusconi has refused repeated calls from the opposition and the trade unions for the letter to be made public. But his finance minister, Giulio Tremonti, supplied more detail on the government's plans to a parliamentary committee.

Italy's benchmark index, the FTSE Mib, closed 3.5pc down amid worries that political jostling in Rome threatens the country's fiscal stability. France's CAC 40 Index also suffered, dropping 1.6pc, and Germany's DAX lost 0.9pc. In Spain, the Ibex fell 2.6pc, while Portugal's PSI 20 ended 1.3pc lower. The flight from Italian government debt saw the yield, or return, on its 10-year bonds touch 5.3pc, a euro-era high. Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G, described the situation as a "bloodbath". "Whatever your view is or was [of Italy's finances], the reality now is that those pesky bond vigilantes have caught sight of Italy, and that is basically all that matters," he said. Investors are worried that Giulio Tremonti, Italy's finance minister, is threatened by corruption accusations against a former aide and seems to have lost the support of his prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. "He thinks he's a genius and that everyone else is stupid," Mr Berlusconi said yesterday. The fear is that if Mr Tremonti is forced out of government it could derail the austerity measures he has pushed through to bring down Italy's huge debt, which amounts to around 120pc of its GDP. That would leave Italy in greater danger of being sucked into the turmoil which overtook Greece and Portugal, as doubts about their finances saw them shut out of the international debt markets. Mario Draghi, Italy's top central banker and the next president of the European Central Bank, tried to offer reassurance with a statement backing Rome's austerity measures as "credible".