The margin of error for the world's economic managers is shrinking. The United States is on the cusp of a double-dip recession, the eurozone flirts with collapse, Japan continues to struggle with deflation — a task made harder by the triple catastrophe of March 2011 — and global stock markets are on a roller-coaster ride.
Unemployment is mounting, debt is growing, and politicians seem unable to get the situation under control. Those leaders recognize the scope of the problem, but they do not seem able to act. Future historians are unlikely to judge them well.
The future of the euro has been at risk for months now as the aftereffects of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis continue to wash through Europe. Halfhearted attempts to clean up banks and government finances — two distinct problems that are nonetheless connected given the role of government revenues in keeping banks afloat — have ensured that problems have not gone away and in fact grown over time.