Europe is a mess right now. I have had a few days to relax and work trough some thoughts about where this global depression is headed. Upon coming back to the site, I was struck by how poorly Europe’s economies are doing. As I have said previously, I do think European leaders are in denial about the severity of this depression started in the U.S. on their own economies. To my mind, this means the potential for downside risk in Europe is that much greater.
Below are a few links highlighting the European situation and a bunch of others including sad news from Cassandra on the passing of Greg Newton, a great in the econblogger space.
Farewell Greg Newton – Cassandra Does Tokyo
Russia’s Economy Contracts By 7% In Q1 2009 – Edward Hugh
Richard Russell: Bear Market Will Last Longer, Go Deeper Than People Expect
Ukraine’s economy ‘to shrink 9%’
All Irish banks have ratings cut
Job insecurity ‘getting worse’
FT.com – House price falls add to eurozone’s woes
FT.com – HSBC concludes record £12.5bn rights issue
Ireland unveils emergency budget
Japan’s current account surplus halves
German manufacturing orders slip further
Germany extends car scrapping bonus
Scrap the Summers-Geithner plan – Lawrence Kotlikoff, Boston Globe