Greece: the index of world's coming Euro crash

From Reuters.com:

May 29 (Reuters) - If Greece left the euro, living standards would plummet, incomes would be slashed by more than half, and inflation and unemployment would skyrocket, the National Bank of Greece warned on Tuesday.

In a report released ahead of an election on June 17 that may determine whether the country stays in the single currency, the country's biggest bank said the risk of Athens exiting the euro was no longer just a theoretical possibility, warning that the fallout from such a move would be dramatic.

"An exit from the euro would lead to a significant decline in the living standards of Greek citizens," the NBG wrote ahead of a vote which parties opposed to austerity measures that have kept Greece in the euro so far have a chance of winning.

The bank said per capita income would collapse by at least 55 percent, the new national currency would depreciate by 65 percent against the euro and a recession, now in its fifth year, would deepen by 22 percent.

Painting a dire picture of post-euro Greece, it added that unemployment would jump to 34 percent of the work force from around 22 percent now and that inflation would rise to 30 percent from its current level of 2 percent.

As I've said before, PIGS in Europe (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) will be the determinants in the future success or failure in Europe. And that so-called success or failure -- more likely abject failure -- will cross the Atlantic in pure microsecond internet style and impact our own stock market and banking system. Which may include not just a run on Greek banks, but an unhinged run on American banks.

This, I submit, is the lynch-pin upon which our global future rests.

Simple as that.

Gird thy loins, ladies and gentlemen.

BZ

P.S.
And all Mr Obama would have to do is to guarantee that, for the next five years, at minimum, the current tax cuts would stay in place. The American Economy would EXPLODE because there would be, at least, something predictable that businesses could rely upon for the foreseeable future. But, of course, ideologically, Mr Obama and his minions lack the capacity to see this as a viable solution.