Obama calls for 'resolute' spending cuts in Spain

Obama calls for 'resolute' spending cuts in Spain

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – US President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Spain for "resolute action" to stem its widening deficit, in order to regain market confidence in the eurozone and avoid a spill-over effect from Greece.

The Federal Reserve late Sunday opened a program to ship U.S. dollars to Europe in a move to head off a broader financial crisis on the continent. The Fed's balance sheet ballooned to $2.3 trillion, more than double where it stood before President Barack Obama took office.

At issue is the US share of a $39 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, about $7 or $8 billion. The loan to Greece has grown to more than a trillion. Does that make the US' share 14 to 16 trillion? I dunno.

Moody's Ratings warns that the potential contagion on sovereign risks could impact on the banking systems of other euro zone states as well as those in the UK.

"As shown by the recent downgrade of Greek banks as a result of sovereign weakness, the potential contagion of sovereign risks to banking systems could spread to other countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy as well as Ireland and the UK," the agency states in a new Special Report.

FDIC regulators close seven banks last week, at a cost to the insurance fund of $7.33 billion That brought the number of U.S. bank failures this year to 64 and reduced the federal deposit insurance fund by billions of dollars.

So... We borrow money from China so we can lend it to Europe?

Our debt load is comparable to Greece. So are we rushing to speed up our own downfall? Or are we just delaying the inevitable?

They say that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. We are more Neapolitan than that. We just “work the phones”.