Europe summit surprises with bold moves

The G-20 summit of to a great start if you like fireworks, endless bickering, and finger-pointing. Otherwise these summits are totally useless. When asked by a Canadian journalist "Why should North Americans risk their assets to help Europe?" EC President José Barroso replied "Frankly, we are not here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy.

BRUSSELS – The European Union reached a landmark deal on Thursday to make the European Central Bank the bloc’s top banking supervisor, giving EU leaders greater confidence that they are gaining the upper hand over the eurozone’s debt crisis. EU finance ministers forged a deal on the single supervisor in the early hours of Thursday after marathon talks. Leaders will give their stamp of approval at a summit starting later in the day, their last of 2012, and also discuss closer fiscal ties for their troubled currency area.

Praise from German chancellor Angela Merkel is typically hard to come by. However, Merkel is freely distributing praise these days, to the person least-deserving, herself. As the eurozone marches down the "Road to Shared Liability" Germans are largely unaware of the Hidden Risks of the Euro-Zone Bank Oversight Plan risks that Merkel ignored when agreeing to the eurozone oversight plan last week.