In the land of the twice credit-downrated ...

The once-downrated is king?

That's why the threat by credit rating agencie S&P to downgrade most countries of the Eurozone, even Germany, should be taken with a grain of salt. The U.S. downgrade by one of the three ratings agencies has shown little fallout so far. (That said, a day later, the S&P has now said its credit downgrade threat includes the Eurozone bailout fund, not just member nation economies.)

I agree that the Eurozone needs reframing. Whether Sarkozy and Merkel are doing a lot more than window dressing is another question. But, if there's a threat of a two-notch downgrade, they will do more than window dressing.

And, given Germany's notorious inflation fears, just what would a downgrade mean there, internally?

Anyway, for now, at least, the court of general public opinion will surely recognize that Germany, and even France, aren't Italy.