Moneybox

I'm relatively bullish on America in 2012, but Europe is looking like a disaster with December stats indicating a fifth straight month of decline in manufacturing output. 

It's worth dwelling on the perversity of the idea of a debt-induced recession. Debt occurs when you consume more than you produce. The solution to debt, then, is to produce more than you consume. Cutting production doesn't help. But when you attempt to cut consumption across the board with continent-wide austerity, this is what you get.