France is the latest European country, and the financially strongest yet, to feel the pressure as money worries continue to plague the Eurozone.

On Monday (14th November), the game changed again slightly with a rise in the interest rate France pays to borrow money. This has also created internal fears that France may face a credit downgrade from it's prized AAA credit rating.
In effect the interest rate rise means that France has lost the benefits that the Triple A rating offers, namely a low rate of borrowing, as now France pays more than nearly every country that has a Triple A rating from all three of the major ratings agencies, except Australia, whose economy is less than half the size, and significantly smaller economy Austria, which pays about the same interest rate.

It is not that anyone is actually expecting France to default just yet, but its higher yields on economic yardstick, it's 10 year bonds, reflect investor concern about the country's economic fundamentals: its overall debt load and the annual budget deficits it has run for the past 30 years.

The impact of this may very well be felt throughout Europe, as the credit ratings of France and Germany give confidence to the eurozone stability fund. This has been established to tackle Europe's raging debt crisis, and the change in the French credit rating could have far reaching implications, affecting the entire European bailout plan.

This Eurozone crisis has been almost happening in slow motion for quite a while. It seems that as "Joe Average" looks on, somewhat unconcerned really, the major economies of the western world are destabilishing right in front of our eyes, played out like some bizarre made for TV movie.

This next video was posted on October 10th, over a month ago, and sets the scene for what is happening right now.

Greece & Italy concede it leadership and the focus shifts.

The changing of the political guard in both Greece and Italy have seen bankers, or rather former bankers, move into positions of absolute power within these political systems. Draw your own conclusions on that move!

The crisis that was....

5th Nov, 2011: This week has seen some intense action on the global finance front, with Greece teetering on the edge of economic collapse and the G20 underway in the South of France. The deal that the Euro Zone offered Greece in order to stave off default on it's debt looked likely to falter, then surprisingly the Greek leadership did an about face and conceded. This next clip was posted 3rd November.

One would have to presume that Greece surely has to accept another layer of austerity measures in order to get through until the next time it threatens default. Here is reaction on Friday evening (4th November) after the vote and the closing of the G20 Summit.

Click on the links below to see some of our thoughts on the credit crunch and ensuing global financial meltdown over the years.

• July 27th, 2011 - Got a spare 15 trillion dollars? Yeah Nah. Just print it then...
• January 26th, 2011 - Is there any right time to sell off the Family Silver?
• October 7th, 2010 - The Economy slows further
• August 18th, 2010 - Recession Ends? Really? Why the panic then?
• June 4th, 2010 - Creating money out of thin air
• June 2nd, 2010 - Recession marketing - behind the headlines normal citizens are hurting
• March 9th, 2010 - KiwiSaver - "time to ensure it's integrity"
• Febtuary 1st, 2010 - How an Economic Stimulus Package works
• Nov 20th, 2009 - Advice on the institution of banking