Greece spent a decade working to become a full member of the European Union. Now it appears it's doing its best to get thrown out. At a summit meeting in Brussels last night, Euro leaders stepped up contingency planning for a possible Greek exit from the euro zone. Meanwhile, Europe's leaders are struggling to overcome their differences on how to resolve the EU's debt crisis. Joining us is Matthew Price, Brussels Correspondent for our partner the BBC.

Discussing the news for the week ahead are Marcus Mabry, editor-at-large at The International Herald Tribune and Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC Radio, discuss the news for the week ahead, including the end of a ceasefire in Syria, Israeli-Palestine talks, rising Eurozone borrowing costs, and the Romneys' interview with Diane Sawyer.

As evidenced by the Congressional debt panel's failure, MF Global's $600 million missing investor funds, and lagging employment numbers, the U.S. has a long way to go in terms of solving the economic problems that created the 2008 financial crisis. And there are plenty of potential pitfalls abroad — China's inflation rate is at 10 percent, and the euro zone's ongoing debt crisis. Yet, there are bright spots with many manufacturing, energy, and tech sector jobs growing.

The House Commodity Futures Trading Commission's review of MF Global are getting closer to finding out where 1.2 billion dollars of investor's funds went. Former Chief Executive John Corzine has testified he does not know where the funds went, and was unaware that any customer money was missing until October 30th of this year. The now bankrupt brokerage firm made a 6.3 billion dollar bet on European sovereign debt.

Standard and Poor's announced on Monday that it is considering a credit rating downgrade for both Germany and France, the euro zone's two biggest economies. The move takes place as euro zone countries meet in Brussels in an attempt to stop the ongoing crisis. The two countries currently have a top-notch AAA rating from the agency. Standard and Poor's said that 13 additional euro zone countries are also vulnerable to downgrade as a result of the continent’s economic crisis. 

After an eventful weekend, GOP presidential candidates are gearing up for the influential Iowa caucuses. Democrats on Capital Hill hope to pass a payroll tax cut in the face of Republican opposition. Abroad, the euro debt crisis continue to loom over the world economy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are meeting ahead of the Brussels summit on Friday to discuss greater fiscal coordination between European countries, and Italy's new government looks to pass austerity measures to ease their debt.

With Silvio Berlusconi officially submitting his resignation this weekend, the Mario Monti era begins in Italy. The interim prime minister's first task will be to form a new government to enforce the country's recently approved austerity package to get the country's debt burden under control. But who is Italy's new leader? And will his new government be enough to prevent a further crisis in the euro zone?