It’s tough out there; it’s hard work for everybody. We don’t need the IMF or the World Bank or the world’s political leaders to tell us that. We know it’s a “dangerous new phase” that we’re in. We take that as read. What we need is to find an answer. At the time of writing, we are hearing that we may get some “shock and awe,” a once-and-for-all remedy for the euro zone sovereign debt issue that is proving such a dampener on the developed world’s economic prospects. The history isn’t good. We’ll see.

Nominally, the global economy and its constituent country elements are functioning normally. But in the key European part of the world economy, the politicians are politicking and bickering, the economic and monetary machinery is behaving erratically and needs repairing, austerity measures are looming and hurting even before they are fully implemented, can’t-cut, won’t-cut people are resisting the austerity measures