From Across the Pond: The European View (Day 1)
Day One Report from Keith Mullen and Lou Strawn in Europe
London's Heathrow Airport certainly is a remarkable place. The entire world seems to be here in a controlled chaos that the Brits handle with great charm and even wit.
After an exhausting 8-hour flight, we homestead several chairs and grab the Saturday (October 4) edition of The Times. It doesn't take us long to discover Britain's interest in the financial crisis. The crisis appears in a text box on page one with a lengthy story and a smaller story on page three. In addition, the business section of The Times contains several stories covering subjects related to the crisis, and Martin Walker's column which focuses solely on the U.S. bailout legislation.
We have six hours before our plane departs for Munich. Reading these stories energizes us and helps us fend off the desire to nap.
Here is what we're reading:
- Like their U.S. brethren, the Brits see the crisis to be at the end of the beginning with no one really knowing how long this will last and when (or even if) the bailout will succeed.
- The Brits view the financial crisis as long and deep with extensive damage to world economies in terms of job loses and GDP.
- Martin Walker acknowledges that initially he, like other Brits, placed fault at the feet of the U.S. financial system, but he now states that this misconception has evaporated by recognizing the EU role in it: the near collapse of Italy's Unicredit, government packages for Greek and Ireland banks, and bailouts in Belgium, Holland, Germany and Iceland
- There is widespread acknowledgment of the "R" word (recession), and EU leaders are all over it. (Calling for a summit to respond to a banking crisis described as unlike any other since the '30s)
We've only been across the pond for a few hours. Our initial observation is that we are in tough times, both in the U.S. and in the EU.
From this perspective, the pond looks like a puddle.
If you have any observations or comments, or any questions that you'd like us to ask during our EU trip, please "post" a comment.
