I know that housing prices in London are now coming down (collapsing?), that bubble seems about over; Italy has lost its government yet again, and just announced declining financials for the coming year (somewhere in the 1% range). I have the feeling that things in the Nordic region remain fairly upbeat, but not so sure about the rest of Europe. There seems concern on this side about both France and Germany.

I would be interested in any other comments, EU (UE) or elsewhere, on on-the-ground reads of economic well-being.

I have a question: we know US obviously have a lot of problems but I am very concerned about UE too. SG scandal, Euro M3 is high but slowing and the way UE calculates their inflation deficit seems very “Putinesque” to me in the sense is prone to window dressing (if the US has a real inflation of about 7%, Europe now is in the double digits… and there is not a real UE countries balance sheet and income statement, and I think Trichet is a great banker by the way). Again in UE everything seems so good on paper and so bad when you talk with people… It is just my impression or someone else has the same perception?

Best regards,