We’ve been meaning to tell you why economists and policy makers were jackasses. We can’t remember what we intended, but this blank is easy to fill in.

Let’s begin by looking at an economic disaster area: Greece. It has a per-capita GDP of about $29,000 compared to nearly twice as much for the US. One out of four Greeks is unemployed. Half of young people are jobless. And the country is broke. Only the kindness of strangers in France and Germany keeps the lights on.

An economist would use a technical term to describe it – “basket case”.

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Markets are getting edgy again.

The initial burst of euphoria over the latest bout of quantitative easing is starting to wear off. And investors are starting to get jittery about Europe again.

Why? Hasn’t Mario Draghi saved the eurozone?

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Most economists will tell you that markets are always ‘efficient’. This means that current prices perfectly reflect all the information out there. It also means that unless you have some special knowledge that no one else is party to, you can’t beat them.

However, in the real world, that’s not how things work. While markets generally work well – or at least, better than any other system for allocating resources – they are sometimes prone to the same flaws and foibles as the humans who run them.

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The Greek debt crisis is on every front page. Behind many of the headlines is an assumption that a Greek default and exit from the euro would be an unprecedented, unthinkable disaster.

However, Athens’ problems are hardly unique. Little more than a decade ago, Argentina’s economy went through a similar process.

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Greece continues to dominate the news. Stock markets around the world are either up or down based on news flow out of the troubled country.

It’s now beyond absurdity. Officials continue to apply a band-aid to a gaping flesh wound expecting the flow of blood to stop. It won’t. Greece is bleeding heavily. The ‘troika’s’ austerity measures are not working. Recent data revealed that in the final quarter of 2011 the Greek economy contracted at 7 per cent annual rate. That makes the debt situation much worse.

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It took awhile, but are the wheels finally coming off in Europe? Last year, I figured either a Greek default or an Italian default on government debt was a certainty. It didn’t happen. But it may happen this year. And it may happen soon. What should you do before it does?

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We noticed with amusement Emperor Ken Henry’s statement that: “What people have called the global financial crisis, that has passed, I think it’s safe to say.”

It’s pretty easy to say that when you’re a career leach. Sorry, we mean public servant… No, actually, we do mean ‘leach’ after all.

On reading those words from Emperor Henry, it rather reminded us of this moment back in 2003:

“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed… [Applause, whooping and hollering] And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.”

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