The Occasional Observer

but you might want give this one a read.   If you're so lazy that you can't bother to read one stinking blog post, here's the crackerjack finale:

Spain has illustrated the true nature of the EU Crisis in just one week. Specifically… 

1.  Both governments and banks are lying about the real risks to their balance sheets (Bankia passed the EU’s stress tests). 

2.  We have reached the point at which Governments can no longer bailout their own        failing banks as the Governments themselves are bankrupt (see Catalonia and Spain as a whole).

To recap… Spain has only €5 billion left in its own bailout fund… at a time when its largest bank needs €19 billion (at the least)… and its regional government have begun asking for bailouts too.

Oh, and the Spanish banking system needs to write off another €270 billion…  if Spain cannot cobble together €19 billion, where on earth will it get the money needed to support its collapsing banking system which is on the verge of having to write down hundreds of billions of Euros?

This is the state of affairs in Europe: bankrupt nations trying to bailout bankrupt banks or looking for bailouts from funds that are backed by other bankrupt nations.

What could go wrong?