It is the largest drop in e-Zone IP since records have been kept. Intermediate goods, capital goods and consumer goods output trends are being clobbered. Each sector is worsening sequentially. Each of the countries displayed: Germany, France, Italy, and the UK, is experiencing sequentially worsening rates of growth for their selected measures of IP.

It is getting worse. The EU is in the belly of the beast and beast is recession.

Statements for Germany today confirm that things are getting worse there and that there are no signs of a turnaround. In France INSEE is now looking for Q1-2009 to be weaker than Q4-2008. In France despite the lobbying Sarkozy has done for more stimulus and relaxation within the Area, French workers are striking as if he could DO SOMETHING about the severity of the recession. They are in fact wanting him to do more to mitigate it. But France, like other EMU members, has to be mindful of the Maastricht rules that apply to budget deficits. Europeans, despite seeing this worsening in their respective economies, are amazingly blasé about doing more to mitigate the effects. Moreover, within the Group of 20 European member are far more interested in rules and regulations for the future than in dealing with current issues. If they were firemen they’d be calling in the arson investigators instead of dousing the still-raging and expanding flames. Europeans are different.