World War II started with a big bank meltdown in Europe. Today’s risk is a surge in capital flight from Austria – the country, as it happens, that set off the global banking collapse of May 1931 when Credit-Anstalt went down.
The Telegraph today : Europe on the brink of currency crisis meltdown
The financial crisis spreading like wildfire across the former Soviet bloc threatens to set off a second and more dangerous banking crisis in Western Europe, tipping the whole Continent into a fully-fledged economic slump.Currency pegs are being tested to destruction on the fringes of Europe’s monetary union in a traumatic upheaval that recalls the collapse of the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992.
“This is the biggest currency crisis the world has ever seen,” said Neil Mellor, a strategist at Bank of New York Mellon.
Experts fear the mayhem may soon trigger a chain reaction within the eurozone itself. The risk is a surge in capital flight from Austria – the country, as it happens, that set off the global banking collapse of May 1931 when Credit-Anstalt went down – and from a string of Club Med countries that rely on foreign funding to cover huge current account deficits.
The latest data from the Bank for International Settlements shows that Western European banks hold almost all the exposure to the emerging market bubble, now busting with spectacular effect.
So the magic question is how is the USA doing right now? With Obama’s future budgets, the USA Debt to GDP ratio will about 100% since just today the House voted to increase the debt ceiling to $14.3 Trillion. The USA GDP was approximately $14.2 trillion at the end of 2008.
[...] Greece Under EU Protectorate The Greek government’s budget situation is just slightly ahead of the USA budget situation, assuming the Obama budgets. More here. [...]