Bailouts for Spain and Italy might be required, dwarfing the cost of keeping Greece in the euro-zone fold and possibly fracturing the currency area.

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European federalists know that the single currency zone will need at least a ten-fold increase in direct EU taxes (currently 1.28% of GDP) for there to be any prospect of European social stability.

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At the time of writing, all the major Euro countries are in crisis, with Germany close to joining the fold, with growth set to halve next year (assuming Euro-zone problems get no worse).

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But on that fateful Friday, when the North American plate slid over the Pacific plate along a subduction zone running 130km (80 miles) off the Pacific coast of northern Japan, the shock leapt from the first segment to a second and on to a third, extending the fault zone some 400km and increasing its intensity more than 30-fold.

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