Different day same chaos.

The nation of Greece is in trouble again as they try to work out the austerity programs needed to balance the budget (one which makes even California look semi rational). The result has been violent riots that have paralyzed the daily lives of many in Greece. People dependent on the government programs are not pleased at the idea of having to get a job, and in fairness the weak economy does not present a lot of options.

This in turn has led to a free fall today in the stock market (the US market was down almost ONE THOUSAND points before settling in at about 400 point drop). Other world markets are similarly impacted as worries mount over how much money will be needed to bail out Greece.

In addition there are many other nations (Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy etc) that are also in trouble and the more money you have to spend on Greece the less you have to spend on them and thus the greater the risk of a series of repeats as these nations reach the end of their rope.

And into this mess comes today’s elections in the UK where there is a distinct possibility that we could have a hung Parliament with no one party in control. At best this would lead to a weak minority government with the need for elections in the near future, at worst it could lead to days or weeks of instability as they try to figure out who will run the show.

Neither option is particularly pretty as we already have a European Union in trouble. Having one of the leading members of that union dealing with internal problems would not be a good thing. On the other hand there is a chance that voters seeing this mess might well turn to the Conservatives to make sure they have a majority government

So it might be a good idea to pay attention to what happens over the pond.