The Eurozone's Death by a Thousand Cuts

As Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy held a press conference yesterday, in which they rehashed the vague and unconvincing aspirations about the reform of the Eurozone that they have issued before (note as per usual, there was absolutely nothing said about what they will do to address the current crisis), economic reality slapped the Eurozone in the face.

Standard and Poor's issued a warning that 15 out of 17 Eurozone nations may suffer a credit downgrade. There is now a 50/50 chance that France and Germany will lose their AAA ratings.

Does this matter?

Yes it does, the much hyped busted flush aka the EFSF relies for its non existent funding on the ratings of the Eurozone. In the event that these are downgraded, funding for the EFSF (if any actually ever materialises) will become more expensive and harder to obtain.

Suffice to say, the political "leadership" of the Eurozone is foaming at the mouth with indignation that their political aspirations are being blown off course by economic reality. However, as we know, the politicians who claim to be "leading" the Eurozone don't care much for reality.

Meanwhile, according to @FGoria (an Italian financial journalist) Greece is about to exit the Eurozone:

"A Cleary Gottlieb lawyer to me: "We're almost ready to advise Greece in an exit from Eurozone. We began our job over one year ago"." 


Thanks to the inaction of the politicians, the Eurozone is suffering a long and protracted death of a thousand cuts.