Apparently some kind of deal has been created for Cyprus to prevent French and German banks from being inconvenienced, but the economies of Europe are caught the death spiral of austerity during an economic downturn.

The latest news for the UK: Fitch says UK downgrade more likely. Moody’s downgraded the UK last month, and Fitch is pointing towards an April downgrade from AAA. The S&P, the third of the big rating agencies, has gone negative on the UK, but hasn’t downgraded it yet. The confidence fairies don’t seem very impressed with the policies of George Osbourne, who has vowed to continue his failed policies right over the cliff.

At Naked Capitalism Yanis Varoufakis, an economics professor at the University of Athens, has a post, While Waiting for Cyprus’ Godot…, in which he notes: “Every bailout agreement, beginning with Greece’s in May 2010, seems less logical and more toxic than the previous one.”

The post consists of notes from his interview on BBC-4 which is now available.

This is point at which you should unload your position in the Euro, and move to something safer, like commodity futures. [Note: anyone who makes financial decisions based on my advice, should start checking out the accommodations at the local mental health facilities. I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the ‘investor class’. Savings bonds are as close as I have come to investments. I have taken stock in payment of debts, but sell it if it ever reaches the value of the debt. Having noted that the value of the stock has next to nothing to do with the value of the company. I don’t waste my time or money gambling on Wall Street.]