Never one to avoid a lazy cliché, the other day I quoted plus ça change, mais plus c'est la même chose which is entirely appropriate as we wait . . . and wait . . . for the other European jackboot to hit the floor. The long, long 'phony war' might have lulled some of you into a false sense of comfort so allow me to be the bearer of bad news provided, of course, that you do not shoot the messenger! So far as that shit storm goes which hit Europe five years ago - nothing has changed! All that has happened is an extra long 'time-out' has occurred between rounds as we wait for the 'Empress of die neue Frankenreich' to be crowned - again. Once that is over the foot-tapping problems will hurtle in at high speed. The extent of the problem may be judged by the fact that none of the European banks will lend to each other because they all know, or suspect, that the others are broke! There are only two solutions: either, several of them are indeed allowed to go broke causing shit storm #2a, or, the EU, including Germany, grits it teeth and forges a central financial union which will, of course, entail a central governmental union and that will entail shit storm #2b. There is no #2c, aka: a happy ending!
Er, have a nice day!
