I just found this interesting piece to share.  Take a look at the Financial Times snapshot below that lists the top foreign banks in order of the ratio of their assets as a percentage of their countries GDP.  If the United States government deemed its own Bear Sterns, AIG, Lehman, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to big to fail, then failures in the in the list below could cause quite a bit of economic disruption in their own countries.

To date, the blame of the current financial crisis is all pointing to the United States.  And most of the freefall in financial shares is occuring here as well.  The European Union has stood strong against interest rate cuts, and according to a recent report by Bloomberg,  they are expected to continue holding the line on interest rates.  But in this tightly linked global economy, it’s hard to believe that the irresponsible lending that caused the current crisis occured solely in the United States.  Perhaps Europe is just doing a better job of hiding the mess they are in.  And if that’s the case, then the banks listed above could cause serious turmoil in their respective countries when the truth starts to leak out.