7 US States That Are Sicker Than Europe's PIIGS

The unflattering acronym PIGS, or PIIGS, is starting to take hold as we enter a new sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Now,

PIGS = Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain;

PIIGS = Portugal, Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Spain (Iceland is not a member of the EU but is likely to join by 2012);

we could even end up with PIIIGS, which would include Italy.



"Barclays Capital says the net external liabilities of Greece are 87pc of GDP, or €208bn (£182bn). Spain is worse at 91pc (€950bn), and Portugal worse yet at 108pc (€177bn); Ireland is 68pc (€123bn), Italy is 23pc, (€347bn). Add East Europe's bubble and foreign debts top €2 trillion." [Telegraph] But with the US figure running at an official 84%, and most probably higher due to the black-box operations of the Fed, my initial cynicism that attention is being directed away from the dollar seems justified.

Comparing Europe and the USA is not always easy as Europe is a collection of states whereas the USA is a federation of states, but this article at Business Insider has tried to look at individual American states as if they were (semi) independent countries to see if any of them would join Europe's sick PIIGS.

"The seven states to make my list are California, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and New Jersey. Each has a population above 8 million people. Each has had to borrow more than a billion dollars, so far, to pay claims out of their now bankrupt unemployment insurance fund. Also, each state currently registers broad, underemployment above 15% as indicated by the U-6 measure for the States. And finally, each state is a large net importer of either oil, natural gas, electricity, or all three of these energy sources."

I think the one thing that has really scared the US administration is Moody's heretical comment that the USA may lose its triple-A rating. God forbid!