I don’t know how much play this is getting in the US, but this is the first real economic crisis the EU has had to deal with, and at least today it’s showing signs of strain. Last week the Irish government guaranteed 100% of all deposits in Irish banks. This got the rest of Western Europe banks in a tizzy because they were afraid of a mass desertion of domestic banks for Irish ones.

Angela Merkel comes out and denounces Ireland’s unilateral action for not consulting with the EU and the European Central Bank. Then yesterday she announces that the German government will do the same. Britain just annouced that they’re upping the guarantee to £50k, similar to the FDIC’s increase last week.

The euro has mostly weathered the storm so far, but we’ll see what happens to it now. It’ll also be interesting to watch whether the EU pulls together or apart over all this.

It’ll be even more interesting to see whether I can keep my job, seeing as how I work in a bank.

Not being retarded!