It's hard to keep abreast of the unfolding economic crisis in Europe. Banks are teetering. Investors are fleeing. The London FTSE-100 is down 8.5 percent, the German DAX is down 7 percent, and the Paris CAC-40 is down 9.8 percent. A big part of the problem is the lack of a continental response. Over the weekend the heads of Europe's major economies met to discuss the continents' growing financial crisis; nice words were spoken, and no actions were taken. Meanwhile, only days after Ireland caught flak for guaranteeing the liabilities of six of its banks, Germany, Iceland, Italy, and the Benelux nations have all bailed out financial institutions, while Germany and several others have guaranteed consumer bank deposits.
The problem is that none of this is coordinated, and already, commentators are asking whether the crisis signals the end of the EU experiment as we know it. Financial Times columnist Wolfgang M