EU May Use Bailout Fund for Emergency Credit

European officials are considering steps previously rejected by Germany, including the use of precautionary credit lines, to prevent the spread of the region’s debt crisis, a person close to the talks said.

“There needs to be a program with a certain amount of shock and awe to impress the market that the leaders are on top of the crisis,” said Robin Marshall, a London-based money manager at Smith & Williamson Investment Management in London.

Seriously, really? A program designed to impress, if for nothing else? I guess that keeps investors duped while Rome burns.

With Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou saying in an interview yesterday that leaders face a “make-or-break” moment at the summit, success hinges on going beyond a second Greek package, which national officials continue to work on today. The IMF said yesterday that Greece’s crisis still risks contaminating the rest of the euro region even if officials avert a default there.

The main sticking point is how to get bondholders and banks to foot a share of the bill without sparking a new wave of financial turmoil. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet says any default risks sparking a crisis on a par with the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. German policy makers, who are reluctant to keep forcing their taxpayers to aid the spendthrift, signal a restructuring may be unavoidable.

EU May Use Bailout Fund for Emergency Credit

So the big summit is 'tomorrow' and granted I have omitted some proposals from the above citations, the plan, or 'program' is far from providing any concrete solution. Check other commentary at ZeroHedge regarding the EU proposals as outlined in the Bloomberg article.

Seriously wonder how much longer the EU crisis will able to hobble along in its current anemic condition before something cracks and the floodgates of contagion unleash across Europe and throughout the world.

Unfortunately, this "bailout" may simply give the economy a stay of execution, like trying to stop the ocean's tides with sandbags. The single currency is doomed.

With friends like this who needs enemies? The problem is the mountain of debt that has been put on the nations when the financial industry messed up. Putting the nations further into debt is not the answer. Do we actually need a financial industry? They do not produce anything, just move numbers around and take a large chunk for themselves. With all these billionaires fighting to keep their profits while pushing their losses onto the tax payer, are we the people really getting value for money from it?