Major GDP numbers were released over the last week that shows 13 countries in Europe are officially within a Recession.

The classic definition of a Recession is used which is 2 or more consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.

I have done my best to use the European GDP numbers to create an animation that shows the spread of the “contagion” across Europe. This animation will show all European countries in a recession as of May 20th 2012.

The idea that the contagion was somehow contained to Greece because of the heroic Greece Bailout was totally bogus.

The two countries we need to watch that rumor has it are very close to going into a Recession are France and Germany.

The G8 Summit at Camp David this weekend has produced statements from leaders that are beginning to show Euro-zone leaders are realizing that just cutting government spending and cutting government jobs is not helping to stop the spread of the Recession across Europe. In fact, it’s creating a lot of social unrest and problems for elected officials in numerous countries. Rumor out of Camp David is that European leaders are looking to scale back so called “austerity” measures and focus more on creating jobs.