Tough Economic Times Ahead For Europe

We know that the Greece's economic crisis has put the country into  a long period of belt-tightening already but what we don't know is that the rest of European countries are anticipating a difficult t ime ahead. In Europe faces an era of government spending cuts, DAVID STRINGER and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, from Associated Press report that:

"Governments across the continent announced more budget cuts Tuesday, even as their stock markets and the euro were beaten down by investors fearful of stagnant growth and soaring deficits. The Danish government is also restricting child allowance and postponing plans to reduce taxes for high-income earners.

It's been an unrelenting year of profoundly bad news for Europe, beginning when Greece's new government announced in October that its predecessor had concealed a massive budget shortfall and raised the country's deficit projection from 3.7 percent of GDP to a stunning 12.5 percent and then to 13.6 percent. Lawmakers in both chambers of Spain's Parliament agreed Tuesday to cut their base salaries by 10 percent, joining civil servants in central government ministries in receiving less pay as the country struggles to reduce a deficit equivalent to 11.2 percent of GDP."