Belgium?

Channel NFL coach Jim Mora when you say this.  Belgium? Belgium? You gotta be kidding me!


Word this week is that S&P just put Belgium on a negative watch this week.* So they don't have a government in place (for real). But how can this be? It is not one of the PIIGS! We expected Spain after Ireland after Greece. We expect Portugal to be the next domino before Italy. But there is no "B" in PIIGS.

How about this - BPIIGS?  It has BP in it and that company is facing its Gulf spill legal troubles now.

Or BIPIGS? Sort of looks like two little swine.

Now before we panic, we are talking of a ratings cut from AA+ to possibly AA.That is still something you'd put in Grandma's portfolio.

It is not the cut that is the problem. It the fact that it is a country most of us did not consider. We know Greece is already junk. And we kind of knew about Hungary just one level above junk (PIIGSH?)

It's a good thing Turkey, already in junk status, is not in the EU. Rearrange the letters and it is not a very nice word - PIIGSHT.  Although, it does cut to the chase.

* Capital city Brussells, home of the EU, was downgraded in June