united states because we could use one. why is that so important? now we live in a global economy. anything that happens in europe because we trade with those banks, etc., that affects the way in which our u.s. stock market operates. what s going on in europe? it s not good. you have countries like whole countries like italy, spain and france which are in trouble, italy and spain more for their sovereignty. i mean, they may actually have to be totally bailed out. france, because they may also lose their triple a status as the united states did at least with one ratings firm last week. and you also have now rumors that a major french bank may, in fact, go down similarly to lehman brothers. that happened here in the united states in 2008. that makes all the markets sort of rumble around plus you have the domestic news that our economy is not going to be that great for the next years so the fed decided to keep interest rates at zero. that was initially good news for the stock market the