Europe and the Great Recession

Paul Krugman developed this chart comparing how Europe has fared so far in the Great Recession with how it fared in the Great Depression of the 1930s. The comparison is grim:

This tracks nearly the first six years, from the start of the economic downturn until today.

The takeaway is that the European powers that be, with their forced austerity, have botched this recovery. What will history call this era? We don't know yet.