Financial Problems Lurk As They Did In 1932

[From article]
"the European elite have installed compliant technocratic governments in Greece and Italy, and with the markets now putting pressure on France, few observers can be optimistic that the Continent can avoid a total meltdown.
[. . .]
For in many ways, the 12 months between the end of 1931 and the beginning of 1933 were the tipping point between democracy and tyranny, the moment when the world plunged from an uneasy peace towards hatred and bloodshed.
[. . .]
In the Soviet Union in 1932, meanwhile, Stalin’s reign of terror was intensifying. With dissent crushed by the all-powerful Communist Party, his state-sponsored collectivisation of the Ukrainian farms saw a staggering 6 million die in one of the worst famines in history.
By these standards, the autocratic Vladimir Putin looks almost cuddly.
[. . .]
it would be easy to sit back and reassure ourselves that the worst could never happen again. But that, of course, was what people told each other in 1932, too."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080534/Will-2012-new-Dark-Age.html

The spectre of 1932: How a loss of faith in politicians and democracy could make 2012 the most frightening year in living memory
By Dominic Sandbrook
Daily Mail (UK)
Last updated at 11:13 PM on 30th December 2011