lifestyle leader

Not content to be a mere armchair pundit for the happenings and goings-on of the global economy, your intrepid correspondent is going to be traveling to the heart of the financial turmoil, the eye of the storm, the Land of the PIGS.

Simon Johnson and Peter Boone claim - with a dramatic flair - that the impending euro crisis that originated in these European countries will lead us down the road to economic serfdom. Years of imprudent fiscal management has created a mountain of debt which, when combined with reckless short-term politicking by Europe's political elite, threatens to collapse the modern welfare system as we know it and send shock waves through the global economy.

I doubt it. But in order to find out more, I will be spending the next couple of weeks exploring a few of these countries, talking to locals about their views on sovereign debt, credit rating agencies, monetary policy, Bundestag politicians, and... oh hell, who am I kidding? I'm going to be sitting on a beach, sipping wine and looking for a Bernini sculpture that I can pick up on the cheap once the euro goes down the crapper.

See you in a few weeks.