Last summer, the financier George Soros urged Germany toagree to the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, calling on the country to “leador leave.” Now hesays that Germany should exit the euro if it continues to block theintroduction of Eurobonds.

Soros is playing with fire.Leaving the eurozone is precisely what the newly founded “Alternative forGermany” party, which draws support from a wide swath of society, is demanding.

Crunch time is fastapproaching. Cyprus is almost out of the euro, its banks’ collapse having beendelayed by the European Central Bank’s provision of Emergency LiquidityAssistance, while euroskeptic parties led by Beppe Grillo and Silvio Berlusconigarnered a combined total of 55% of the popular vote in the latest Italiangeneral election.

Moreover, the Greeksand Spaniards are unlikely to be able to bear the strain of economic austeritymuch longer, with youth unemployment inching toward 60%. The independencemovement in Catalonia has gathered so much momentum that a leading Spanishgeneral has vowed to send troops into Barcelona should the province hold areferendum on secession.

France, too, hascompetitiveness problems, and is unable to meet its commitments under theEuropean Union’s Fiscal Compact. Portugal needs a new rescue program, andSlovenia could soon be asking for a rescue as well.

Many investors echoSoros. They want to cut and run – to unload their toxic paper ontointergovernmental rescuers, who should pay for it with the proceeds of Eurobondsales, and put their money in safer havens. The public already is being misusedin an effort to mop upjunk securities and support feeble banks, with taxpayer-funded institutionssuch as the ECB and the bailout programs having by now provided