I agree with Capo.  Decent Europans are no more lost to the cause of Western civilisation, i.e. of human (individual) freedom, than decent (but misguided) leftist Americans are.  Which is not to deny that the behavior of European political- and media elites in recent times has been particularly galling to freedom-loving Americans.

are neither immaterial, nor lost to the cause of Western Civilization.  To assert such, places one outside and in opposition to the civilization one claims a monoply on possessing and defending.

You wrote:  "We cannot expect Europeans to place a high priority on correcting each other's views about the U.S.A."  Yes, we can.  I certainly do.  You also wrote:  "We get a surprising amount of support as it is."  No, we don't.  I've certainly never received any.

I certainly do not believe what you assert.  Clearly, the slumbering majority of Europeans--decent or otherwise, that's immaterial--is lost to the cause of Western civilization.  And of course it is a sign of cowardice if you let arrogant and ignorant slander of Americans go unrebuked when you know such slander does harm to the cause of Western civilization but you figure it would cost you too much to speak up.

I think someone needs to read Reconciler's post more closely. "Not always" > "silent."

KO:  It's true that the lefty elites in America are as nauseatingly condescending and anti-American as the Europeans, but I can't blame this all on them.  The Europeans are, ultimately, the problem here.  As even Reconciler admits, he has not had the balls to rebuke the European hypocrites in person.  At best Europeans like Reconciler will sign on to a web page like this one and assert, in an anonymous posting, that they aren't arrogant like other Europeans.  But it costs them nothing to do so, and it doesn't challenge the general arrogant atmosphere toward Americans.

Reconciler:  You assert that the arrogant constitute but "a fraction" of the total European population.  It is immaterial whether there are Europeans hiding somewhere who actually, in their heart of hearts, do not consider themselves categorically superior to Americans.  As long as those folks (yourself included) remain silent and don't defend their "brothers" across the Atlantic, the effect is exactly the same as if every European were arrogant, hypocritical, and self-absorbed; as long as the loud, high-profile Europeans go unchallenged by the likes of you, then the likes of you might just as well not exist.  It's therefore time you asked yourself why you don't rebuke the arrogant blockheads in person.  What exactly accounts for your cowardice?  At least you admit you have been remiss--that's progress.

How is it possible to rate UK with an 'AAA' with a defice of 163.000.000.000 pound, that's 12% GIP, more than Greece. Shouldn't there be a light 'minus', at least?

Having been told all my life how much smarter Europeans are than Americans, how much better educated Europeans are, how much more sophisticated, how much more worldly, how much more mature--well, I'm enjoying this tremendously.  How could the Western Europeans (with admirable exceptions:  the Brits, the Danes, the Swedes) have been stupid enough to trust the Greeks to tell the truth about their finances?

Certain foreign papers, such as Canada’s Globe and Mail, are parroting Stavros Nassis’ defense of Greece and attack on Germany, even referring to a “German Empire”.  Merkel is in an incredibly difficult position; she might as well be in the Führerbunker in April of ’45 moving non-existent “divisions” around on a map.  The will of the German people is clear, and until very recently she acted in accordance with it, defying powerful rent seeking and free riding interests throughtout Europe, as well as the will of Bruxelles and Paris. 

By itself, Greek solvency is irrelevant to Germany.  Unfortunately, the German financial sector cannot afford a financial crisis, given its heavy investments in the less developed European economies both in and outside the EMU.  German financial institutions want to stabilize investor confidence in the euro and EMU as quickly as possible, even to the detriment of the long-term.  Expelling Greece would only make investors ask: who’s next?  Re-defining the EMU or returning to the Deutsche Mark could not be done easily or quickly.  Bailing Greece out is a short-term fix which will cause anxiety similar to that over the fallout of TARP/ARRA.  But then again, aren’t US markets rallying and isn’t the US economy recovering? 

German banks are no different than American or British ones.  Their idea of “corporate responsibility” is to agitate for reduced taxes and regulations – needless “red tape” such as that which tied up the derivatives market – until they need public money.  Just as the Soviet nomenklatura became "businessmen", US investment bankers suddenly became socialists.  Commentators here argue over ideology, but ideology seems to be expendable for people faced with losing money and power.

The Euro was introduced for political reasons, not for economical reasons.

The only cure that would possibly have helped was to reintroduce the Drachme. For political reasons this was not done.

Now it is too late. Perhaps it would help if Portugal and Spain were expelled besides Greece. That won't happen, off coarse, for political reasons.

When that will be too late, Germany, the Netherlands and perhaps some other countries will have to step out of the Euro. For economical reasons.