Let's Call it Hurricane Euro

In my Marketplace column, I ask why no one is preparing for the coming collapse of the Euro:

But why is it only weather stories that command such breathless attention?

Meanwhile, the world's largest currency union -- the euro -- continues to careen toward disaster. The euro's travails weigh heavily on the United States' economy too. Yet just try getting anybody interested in that outside specialized financial media.

Day by day, week by week, the fiscal and monetary authorities in Europe are making decisions--mostly very bad decisions -- that are hastening the day when a southern European country either quits the euro or is ejected. That would be followed by debt defaults and bank failures -- bank failures that may well contaminate non-European banks as well.

It's not a sure thing. But then neither was the flooding of lower Manhattan by Irene a sure thing. We still worried. We still took precautions. And when we got lucky, we were glad to have paid attention.

Click here to read the full column.