The negative economic consequences – for the United States and the international community – are huge. Attacks on Iran and Iran’s reprisals would likely cause oil prices to spike and investors’ confidence to collapse. Such repercussions would doom worldwide hopes for ongoing economic recovery from the Great Recession. Unemployment in the US remains high, industrial production is struggling, the housing market continues to suffer.
If recovery is fragile in the US, it is in even more peril in Europe. The euro crisis remains unresolved, and not enough has been done to overcome the problems that followed the collapse of confidence in financial markets. Hundreds of billions in bad debts remain unpaid. Although the Greek government has accepted the latest draconian terms for remaining in the European Union, the near universal rejection of the austerity measures by the Greek people hardly assures that the agreements will stick.
