This is the picture that played out across Spain and Greece in the early part of this decade ((We're a 1/5th part through "this decade, wow)

Sudden, elevated incidents of economic catastrophe leading to a massive decline in economic output and the underlying opportunities available to a few generations of intelligent people. This led to a significant decline in wealth creation relative to the rest of the emerging world in these nations.

Unlike the United States, they did not have the massive power of the worlds biggest military underwriting their currency and had to rely on the graces of the EU and IMF, who, frankly, displayed why bureaucratic lethargy is widely despised.

Make no mistake, this is going to remake the economy in ways very few of us can even begin to appreciate. How we, as a nation handle this sets the balance of power in the world for the next half of the century.