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German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble questioned on Tuesday how the United States could deal with its high levels of government debt after November's presidential election.

Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, American companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece could soon be forced to leave the euro zone. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency. No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but...

Spain said Monday it is urgently injecting 4.5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) into Bankia, a state-rescued lender still losing billions of euros. The state-backed Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) said its governing board had agreed to pump in the capital "with immediate effect" to restore its balance sheet. Bankia lies at the heart of Spain's financial sector crisis, which led to eurozone members agreeing in June to extend a rescue loan to Madrid of up to 100 billion euros. The FROB said it would inject the money by subscribing to a capital increase by Bankia, stressing that the decision...

Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, American companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece could soon be forced to leave the euro zone. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency. No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but...

French government to rescue mortgage lender CIF France’s government plans to intervene to rescue Credit Immobilier de France after the struggling mortgage lender was hit by a liquidity crisis following a recent downgrade by credit rating agency Moody’s, Le Figaro newspaper reported Saturday. CIF’s board met Friday night and formally demanded government help, the newspaper said, without naming its sources. The lender, which has about 300 branches throughout France, did not return a phone call seeking comment. The government was not available for comment. As a condition of a state guarantee backing the group, the government demanded the resignation of...

Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, American companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece could soon be forced to leave the euro zone. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency. No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but...

It is bad, of course. More than three years with more than a (rather generously calculated) eight percent unemployment rate is unacceptable and egregious. But things can still stand to get a whole lot worse — and they will, if we continue to follow the proffered example of debt accumulation that Europe has laid out for us. Bloomberg reports: Euro-area unemployment rose to a record and inflation quickened more than economists forecast as rising energy costs threaten to deepen the economic slump.The jobless rate in the economy of the 17 nations using the euro was 11.3 percent in July, the...

Market News International is reporting that the German Finance Ministry may ask Greece to exit the euro "temporarily" while it straightens out its finances. From MNI, citing unnamed "senior eurozone officials" as sources: The officials said that in the view of German Finance Ministry officials mulling the plan, it is now the most likely scenario. But it is not a done deal. There is strong opposition to such a plan among some key European officials, and no decision is likely at least until the end of the year. “It is another working scenario which is not new but has emerged...

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Germany’s director at the European Central Bank has thrown his weight behind mass purchases of Spanish and Italian debt to prevent the disintegration of the euro, marking a crucial turning point in the eurozone debt crisis. “A currency can only be stable if its future existence is not in doubt,” said Jörg Asmussen, the powerful German member of the ECB’s executive board. He signalled full backing for the bond rescue plan of ECB chief Mario Draghi, brushing aside warnings from the German Bundesbank that large-scale purchases would amount to debt monetisation and a back-door fiscal rescue of insolvent states in...

Lord Rothschild has taken a near-£130m bet against the euro as fears continue to grow that the single currency will break up. The member of the banking dynasty has taken the position through RIT Capital Partners, the £1.9bn investment trust of which he is executive chairman. The fact that the former investment banker, a senior member of the Rothschild family, has taken such a view will be seen as a further negative for the currency. The latest omen follows news in The Daily Telegraph late last week that the government of Finland is already preparing for the euro’s break-up. RIT,...

Banks, companies and investors are preparing themselves for a collapse of the euro. Cross-border bank lending is falling, asset managers are shunning Europe and money is flowing into German real estate and bonds. The euro remains stable against the dollar because America has debt problems too. But unlike the euro, the dollar's structure isn't in doubt. There is increasing anxiety, particularly because politicians have not managed to solve the problems. Despite all their efforts, the situation in Greece appears hopeless. Spain is in trouble and, to make matters worse, Germany's Constitutional Court will decide in September whether the European Stability...

Bond payoffs are supposed to be boring, but Argentina's president is celebrating Friday's final $2.3bn payment on a bond given to people whose savings were confiscated a decade ago, calling it a lesson for European countries now mired in foreign debt. The nation's economic disaster left thousands with a grim choice after the government seized their dollar-denominated deposits to stop bank runs in 2002. They could switch to devalued pesos and regain access to what was left of their savings, or accept a piece of paper promising to repay the money in dollars over the next 10 years. Few had...

A recent poll says 51 percent of Germans now believe Germany would be better off without the euro. The Emnid poll for the Bild am Sonntag mass circulation weekly showed 51pc of Germans believed Europe's top economy would be better outside the 17-country eurozone. Twenty-nine percent said it would be worse off, AFP reports. The survey also showed that 71pc of Germans wanted Greece to leave the euro if it did not live up to its austerity promises. Economy Minister Philipp Roesler told Bild am Sonntag there were "considerable doubts whether Greece is living up to its reform promises." Implications...

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — The International Monetary Fund is set to stop aid payments to Greece, raising the odds that the nation will become insolvent as early as September, according to a German press report Sunday citing unnamed European Union officials. The “Troika” of international groups overseeing Greece’s aid — the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank (ECB) — are due to send inspectors to Athens this week to gauge progress toward the requirements of its assistance program. However, Der Spiegel reported that it’s “already clear” to the Troika that the Greek government won’t be...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks fell to new depths in Tuesday's session following a report that European Union officials believe Greece can't pay what it owes and needs more debt restructuring. The dive coincided with a report from Reuters that three E.U. officials believe Greece will have to restructure some 200 billion euros in debt.

Based on official 2010 International Monetary Fund data released earlier this year, the U.S. debt per capita is $46,208. Here's the same figure for the four European countries that have accepted bailouts. Ireland: $41,906 Greece: $38,159 Portugal: $19,686 Spain: $18,162 -snip- If "intra-governmental holdings" are excluded, the U.S. debt per capita falls to $34,285 -- and slips below Greece and Ireland, but above that of Portugal and Spain.

The rise of the Five Star Movement in Italy is the number one happening in Europe right now and mainstream media has not even begun to cover it in any depth. The movement is led by an Italian comedian, Beppe Grillo. Main Rules for the Five Star Movement Not be an elected politician prior to 5 Stelle Commit to stay in charge for no longer than 2 termsCommit to take a minimum salary and give the rest back to the communityPost a public platform on the internet Be willing to hold a public debate on the platform Beppe Grillo's personal...

On Thursday night, Italy and Spain plunged an EU summit into disarray by threatening to block “everything” unless Germany and other eurozone countries backed their demands for help. Mario Monti, the Italian Prime Minister, celebrated the agreement, reached in the early hours of Friday, as a “very important deal for the future of the EU and the eurozone”. He could not resist reminding Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, that Italy had also won on the football pitch, by defeating Germany two goals to one for a place in the finals of the European Championship.

You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning. No, not Mrs Thatcher, but Angela Merkel, the latest big beast of the European political scene to dig her heels in and refuse to go along with the international consensus. The parallels with Britain's own iron lady are striking, though obviously not exact. Mrs Thatcher pledged to use the British veto to block monetary union. I'm going to stand on the track and stop that train, she said. So she stood on the track and was duly run over by the EMU locomotive. No, no, she says, to any...