freelander and assistant managing editor at time. stephen, let s start with you. we know europe s debt crisis has a very direct impact on the u.s. economy. with europe s future still uncertain, how much influence do americans, does congress and president obama have on what s really happening around the world right now. not so much. look, a lot of people probably wondering how can a small country like greece and a bigger country like italy throw the entire globally economy into this turmoil. i think the answer to that is it s the first domino to fall. there s a real threat, you kind of get a contagion effect, if italy falls we re now seeing their interest rates rise on their bonds. this will affect other countries like portugal and spain and maybe france and germany. that s where the interconnection comes in. the united states, the banking system here is very interconnected with what s happening in europe. let s explore the contagion for a minute with chrystia. if i get
america s economic future is uncertain. the crisis threatening it is on the other side of the world. welcome to your $$$$$. i m ali velshi. concerns in the european crisis threatening the global economy and certainly the economic recovery in the united states. stephen moore, editorial writer wall street journal, chrystia freelander and assistant managing editor at time. stephen, let s start with you. we know europe s debt crisis has a very direct impact on the u.s. economy. with europe s future still uncertain, how much influence do americans, does congress and president obama have on what s really happening around the world right now. not so much. look, a lot of people probably wondering how can a small country like greece and a bigger country like italy throw the entire globally economy into this turmoil. the answer is it s the first domino to fall. it s a threat where there s a contagion threat. if italy falls we re now seeing their interest rates rise on their bon