The Rape of Europa

And, now perceiving all her fears decay'd,
Comes tossing forward to the royal maid;
Gives her his breast to stroke, and downward turns
His grizly brow, and gently stoops his horns.
In flow'ry wreaths the royal virgin drest
His bending horns, and kindly clapt his breast.
'Till now grown wanton and devoid of fear,
Not knowing that she prest the Thunderer,
She plac'd her self upon his back, and rode
O'er fields and meadows, seated on the God
-- Publius Ovidius Naso

For a god, Zeus sure is a cad. He spends a great deal of time transforming himself into various beautiful beasts in order to seduce fair maidens. It certainly has a great advantage over flowers and candy, such are the privileges of divinity. As chronicled by Ovid, Zeus becomes a sleek white bull to charm Europa. Fifteen-hundred years Titian immortalized "The Rape of Europa" in paint. The Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth-century BCE first gave the lands north and west of Greece the name Europa. The Romans took the name, along with Greece, in the second century BCE. In it's two millenia history, the definition of Europe has undergone many changes, none more so than in the past sixty years with the creation of the European Union. Today, the ongoing global financial mess may give the rape of Europa a whole new meaning.

An easy way to tell when financial matters are reaching criticality is when they reach feature status outside the financial press. Today, both the Post and NYT have articles on Europe's situation. The Post writes:

Investor panic is threatening to drive up the cost of borrowing for myriad nations around the world and to destabilize global currency markets, with the falling euro and strengthening dollar already hitting U.S. exporters by making such items as American beef and U.S. steel more expensive overseas. The euro, the principal European currency, fell Friday to its lowest level in eight months, tumbling almost 1 percent against the dollar.

However, the NYT has the scoop with the acknowledgment that Goldman is the chief underwriter of Greek debt and their job will be to insure bond buyers and holders that the Greeks will make the proper austerity measures and quit living beyond their means. Funny how the bailed-out masters of the universe can so quickly start taking the cleaver to mere mortals. Well, Lloyd did announce for doing "god's work", he was only taking a nine-million dollar bonus on your tax-money. Europa is about to discover anew the consequences of taking a ride on the beautiful white bull.

The Euro is a maiden currency, only fifteen years old and only ten years in circulation, it is about to be strongly tested. The best thing they could do is tell the Wall Street bull we're getting off here, but that certainly is easier said than done. The Euro has certainly been a worthy experiment in bringing civilization to Europe, after centuries of hacking each other to pieces, one would say a noble one. But it brings to the forefront the "money question", and it is a question not only Europe, but the US, China, and the rest of the world cannot avoid. It's time we all got off the Wall Street bull.