Yay! I’m rich[er] today than I was yesterday, i.e., my 401K is less poor. Thank you Old Europe.

The governments of Europe today embarked on their biggest financial gamble since the launch of the euro single currency by pledging to buy tottering banks, underwrite their lending and flood the markets with liquidity in a package that could cost up to €2trillion (£1.5trillion) across the EU.

In a closely coordinated rash of announcements, Germany, France, Austria and Spain unveiled packages worth hundreds of billions of euros aimed at shoring up their banks and financial systems, while Italy, Sweden, Poland and Norway prepared parallel action.

The radical and risky moves followed an emergency summit of the 15 single currency countries in Paris on Sunday night which agreed a set of rules and instruments for the unprecedented state interventions modelled on the British government’s triple-whammy strategy unveiled last week.

The scale, ambition and potential costs of the programmes suggested European leaders were determined to rise to the challenge of the financial crisis through concerted action, displaying a degree of leadership that put Washington, the global economic leader, in the shade.

So, how long will the good times last? And how will Bush, McCain and the GOP spin this as all their doing?