I have some offhand observations from talking with my friends, who range from hard right to ordinary left (Swedish style, so move everything one step to the left for the European equivalent and two steps to the left for the American).

First, there is a very strong anger against the US, both for the accumulated Bush foreign policy stuff and the way they are hurting our economy by fucking up their own. There is horror when they understand how the subprime crisis happened, how the financial industry has behaved and how real wages have developed in America.

Still, no one is crying. Indeed, several people wouldn't mind suffering through a recession as long as the Americans suffer worse. Not looking very good for future US-EU relations, even of the removal of Bush will change a lot...

Further, strict regulation, state intervention, socialism and even Marxism is begining to look rather attractive. So does the death penalty for "bank treason". Who said moral hazard was a problem?

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.