Doug Noland - "Interesting Juncture"

``... data this week confirmed weak economic underpinnings throughout the euro zone.  With unemployment at almost 23% and economic activity further downshifting, the Spanish economy is essentially in depression.  Spain has little hope of meeting its deficit reduction commitments, while the market is increasingly fearful of Spanish debt spiraling completely out of control.  The trumpeted late-2011 push toward greater European fiscal discipline and integration is poised to lose all market credibility at the hands of its first test-case in Spain.  And, surely, German reluctance to significantly boost Europe's "firewall" is at least partially based on their view that a huge firewall (and resulting market distortions) would provide the wrong incentives for Spanish (and Italian and other) politicians.''