All the strains on the U.S. banking system are being duplicated, and then some, in Europe. There too inflation roars ahead at a double-digit pace, and interest rates are hitting unprecedented peaks. In addition, the large multinational banks operating in Europe are being asked to "recycle" part of the estimated $60 billion in oil producers' surpluses. This involves accepting the money in the form of deposits and lending it to countries that, like Britain and Italy, cannot meet their oil bills. Finally, though banks on both sides of the Atlantic have gotten burned speculating in foreign currencies, the losses...
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