The Wall St. Journal today reported on recession hitting Europe again as austerity measures in certain countries pull down the European Union as a whole. Most economists don’t expect a deep recession. Here is the excellent chart from the article showing the recession by country. Please click on the image to enlarge it for easier viewing. 
This is a good place to mention my error yesterday that Greece’s economy shrank 7% last quarter. As you can see by the graphic today, Greece’s economy shrunk by an astounding 18% last quarter. You have to go back to the Great Depression of the 1930s to see that kind of drop in America. The same goes for Greece’s unemployment rate of 21% and rising. Don’t be surprised if it hits 25%, perhaps even close to 30% as the year goes on. Last spring, I taught in Macedonia, the country just to the north of Greece and unemployment there was 40%.
France did grow slightly and Germany’s economy dipped less than 1%. It really is becoming a two-tiered Europe with Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Iceland in the lower tier. They don’t call the PIIGS anymore. Somebody apparently objected. Try GIIPS, as in gipped the rest of Europe out of hard-earned money to pay for profligrate spending and reckless indebtedness.