Today is Ascension Day, a public holiday here and in much of the rest of Europe. The Risen Christ, having completed this protion of His work, finally ascends to Heaven on a Cloud. Since the Holy Spirit is not dispatched until Pentecost (10 days later), this period might be said to be lacking a certain amount of divine guidance.

I had dinner last evening with an economist at the ECB. Apparently the increasing pressure on Spanish and Portugese sovereign bonds late last week scared the holy bejesus out of them. They had been sitting around, peeved that their previous well-thought out proposals hadn't convinced the markets, when it suddenly dawned on them that they were in a bidding war with godless financial pirates and mercenaries over confidence in the Euro... and that if they didn't do something drastic, soon, they might actually lose. So, even though Spain and Portugal are fundamentally solvent and have been honestly trying and succeeding in getting their finances in order (entirely unlike the Greeks), the bloodlust group-think pressure from the markets was raising the cost of borrowing to the absurd point where those countries could actually face insolvency.

Nor did it seem to help that the ECB sits in Frankfurt, where Germans are fuming. The German press has been whipping up anger over the seeming inability of the Greeks to understand that they need to pay for their own party, and their expectation that others (the Germans) do so for them. Anti-Euro sentiment is quite high in Germany at the moment, but as I said before: there is no political party even dreaming of abandoning the Euro. The EU has been rather poor at inspiring loyalty from the masses, but it has been amazing at integrating political and business elites into the project. Business likes it a lot – it makes interstate commerce within Europe a lot simpler for everyone. Sure, if the western economy gets a lot worse, it's anyone's guess what could happen. But in that case, I imagine there will be a lot more pressing things on people's minds than the common currency, like WW III.

I also read an article recently that reminded me that, as much as a basket case as the Greek state is, it is a regional economic powerhouse throughout the Balkans. If Greece was simply allowed to fall into prolonged uncertainty and economic crisis, its banks and businesses would suffer, and the economies of countries like Bulgaria, Serbia and the like could be deeply disturbed... not really what anyone wants in that wacky region.

All of which forced the ECB to take the radical steps they came out with over the weekend, to get ahead of the curve of contagion & fear, including their own.

So, sure, there's a chance that things could unravel here. But let's keep it in perspective: China's leaders are soiling themselves as they try to keep their seat on the bucking bronco of their barely in-control expansion, and the US is in permanent denial over crushing federal and state debt. On the level of the commanding heights of the economy, it's all being held together by baling wire, duct tap and mirrors. But then, it always has been.