Europe thriller as subplots?

Maybe financial thrillers are only Wall Street screenplays and sequels, and yet it only seems like yesterday that the late Michael Crichton book “Rising Sun” was on the shelves. The business-as-war premise of that story was also connected to the leading edge of the digital technology of that time.  Also, back when, Tom Clancy’s “Executive Orders” had as a sub-plot, the financial meltdown caused by system hackers. In the very real 1999 “dot-com” crash, and then the 2007-2008 very real “sub-prime mortgage” financial meltdown, we learned more about the complicated the global financial network.

For the past three years,  I’ve been telling friends about the European news of DW network – Deutsch Welle – German news. It is carried in our area on the Catholic channel 49, at 7:00 PM PDT local, for thirty minutes. Include with the DOW index, is DAX stock index , which is the Deutsche exchange in Frankfurt, and the Euro exchange index out of Bonn.

Three years ago the DW-German news anchors were reporting on the US sub-prime mortgage financial decline. Germany had its own business decline going on. As one example Nokia there downsized and moved out.  The Germans were worried about how the US losses or the result of the bailouts would affect the euro and their economy. Since then, German industry has bounced back while Greece, Spain, Italy and France economies are in trouble. Then, the Euro group bailed out Greece. This past week Spain was bailed out. On June 12, Sean Hannity, on his radio program, voiced his concern and worry, if not alarm, about the Europe economy affecting the US economy in the years ahead. 20% of our exports are European markets.

I have to wonder where the media has been? True, this stuff is not carried on “network” news. We don’t live in a global vacuum.  http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL5E8HDB6420120613?irpc=932

Some might have the view that we caused the European economic crisis. Until, one learned that Spain has their “sub-prime mortgage” crisis going on. According to Ben Stein, interviewed on Fox news this week, the German banks own the bonds in Spain, Greece, and Italy. [Italy may default next]. The US banks own the German banks. Stein says, “Read my book.” http://www.benstein.com/stein2html

It seems that there could be a lot here for European set crime/thrillers, and home financial crime/ thrillers too.  What do you think? Fodder for subplots in family or crime stories?

Timothy J. Desmond
https://timdesmondblog.wordpress.com
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