The crisis in Latin America shows two very different types of economic decline:

Despite the unprecedented increase in the ECB’s asset purchase program, the spread of Southern Europe sovereign bonds versus German ones is rising.

The ECB balance sheet has soared to more than 42% of the eurozone’s GDP, compared to the Fed 27% vs U.S. GDP. However, at the same time, excess liquidity has ballooned to more than 2.1 trillion euros.

The recent jobless claims figures show how difficult it will be for the U.S. recovery to be as quick and strong as initially expected.