Zero Hedge has a habit of trying to simplify that which is otherwise unnecessarily complex, convoluted and opaque. Today, we wish to explain the primary reason why Europe has still not be engulfed in fire and brimstone and collapsed straight to the 9th circle of overlevereged Hell(as). The reason, as we henceforth dub it, is Ponzi PatriotismTM.
What is Ponzi PatriotismTM you may ask? Good question - instead of providing verbal explanation we will demonstrate it visually, courtesy of the two Reuters charts below. The bottom line is that since everyone else is rushing far and away from Europe's doomed countries, it is up to the countries themselves to double, then triple, then quadruple down on their own terminal insolvency, until, finally one day, it's all over. That day has not come yet, but it is fast approaching: that will be the day when the eligible ECB collateral (which in the last iteration included banana peels and condom wrappers, so even that is fast running out) is completely gone, and the ECB has no more pretext to fund various regional ponzies. Of course, by that time the youth unemployment will have hit 120% (based on BLS seasonal adjustments), and there will be other problems, but you get the idea.
[5]