AND THEY LECTURE US! – AT 2:41 P.M. ET:  Ireland has asked for a bailout to help solve its economic woes.  Greece came first.  And now we see the grim future.  From CNBC:

The biggest bailout the European Union will have to do if it comes to it will be Spain and it is worrying that there is not a set mechanism on how to go about it, Cornelia Meyer, CEO & Chairman, MRL Corporation, told CNBC Monday.

At the weekend, euro zone financial ministers and Irish officials agreed on a bailout of under 100 billion euros ($137 billion) for Ireland, sending stocks in Europe and the euro higher, as investors breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next in line for European Union and International Monetary Fund money may be Portugal, and then Spain, analysts said.

"We're getting near the end-game in terms of Ireland, and that was a good bailout, and we did all the right things; but hot on the heels of Ireland we have Portugal and then Spain, and Spain will be the biggie," Meyer said.

She predicted that a Spanish bailout would likely cost up to 500 billion euros; but there is no "real mechanism" to deal with it, Meyer added.

COMMENT:  The economic instability in Europe is frightening.  We know European history.  What know what economic stress produced in Germany in the 1930s.  It can happen again, in a number of places.  There is no guarantee that democracy will survive in some of these countries, especially the ones where fascism flourished until relatively recent times.

November 22, 2010