REal Talk with Adam Perrotta-Monday

By Adam Perrotta, News Writer

--If it's true that misery loves company, the struggling American financial sector can at least take some solace in the fact that Europe is not immune to difficulties of its own, such as the struggles of Hypo Real Estate Group, which looks to be getting a $68 billion bailout from the German government. Of course, the fact that Hypo--and many other tanking European firms--may be failing due to their exposure to U.S.-sourced mortgage derivatives should wipe any schadenfreude-influenced smirk off the face of an observer on this side of the pond.

How closely tied are Europe's growing struggles to the U.S. slowdown? And are the fortunes of the two inextricably linked? Or could Europe's problems turn out to be milder than those at home? Or could they be worse?