Nobody knows what the future holds. But there are a few things shaping up that suggest certain things will most likely happen. Here are some of the major ones.

Interest Rates: Low at the beginning of the year, then headed higher for a long time. If you have an adjustable rate mortgage and you're still paying it, it's the perfect time to get it refinanced, if you can qualify. Interest rates are definitely going up; it's just a matter of when. As long as the Fed is pumping money in (QE2 is targeted with $800 billion .... with the possibility of more behind it), rates will stay low, unless investors think inflation will get way out of hand. Then rates will go higher no matter what the Fed does as investors sell longer term bonds to beat the coming inflation. Initially, rising interest rates will be bullish as they are a precursor to a healthy economy. But that bull will morph and become a bear when rates start jumping as the Fed tries to get ahead of inflation. Tricky business. Investors will do well to have floating rate assets and fixed rate liabilities.

• "This is not a rescue plan. It is the longest ransom note in history: Do what we tell you and you may, in time, get your country back," said Fintan O'Toole, a commentator and author who led a weekend protest by labor-union activists in central Dublin against the imminent bailout. He called the average interest rate being demanded "viciously extortionate."

For months European leaders have grappled with capping or deferring bank bonuses. Now a final deal has been approved by the European Parliament. It affects bank pay for the 27-nation bloc.

The final agreement would have bank employees defer 40% to 60% of their bonuses for at least three years. Half of the money would have to be paid in shares or other instruments tied to the bank's performance. In addition there is a clawback provision in which the bank can force an employee to give back all or part of the bonus if the employee took a bad risk.

Without giving much detail, George Soros says "The euro is a patently flawed construct."

Let's elaborate on this point. The greatest flaw in the euro is that it's a currency without a country. Instead you have a group of 16 countries that have agreed to use the euro as legal tender. This means that 16 separate political systems have agreed in principle to follow the rules of engagement, to use a military term. Those rules state that each country must keep its debt level to 3% of GDP.

Perhaps the European Union was doomed from the start and it just took a decade for the more productive member states to realize it.

If you went into a business with a bad partner is there any way for it to work? Inevitably there will be a split and that might be the case for the EU members and the battered euro.

Regardless of the end result shrewd investors should be on the lookout for stock bargains in large successful European companies undermined by the failure of the monetary system. The following three stocks are examples worth considering.

European Union leaders have agreed to set up an emergency fund to stop the spread of the Greek crisis and shore up the euro. The amount of the fund was not disclosed, but leaders say it will be in place before Asia starts trading.

The catalyst for setting up the fund was the collapsing euro, which fell 4.3% last week. In addition, spreads on Greek, Spanish and Portuguese bonds widened last week, further indicating a lack of confidence in the EU. European banks have suffered big losses, especially those with exposure to Greece, Portugal and Spain.

The Greek parliament passed a tough austerity aid program by a vote of 172 to 121. The vote opens the way for Greece to start drawing down the $140 billion dollars in bilateral loans from other eurozone states and the IMF.

Passage of aid package is Greece's chance to avert default and overhaul its public administration. It is deemed the biggest challenge since it emerged from military dictatorship in 1974.

You had it all figured out. The Greek bailout of $146 billion would stabilize Europe. Greek bond rates would fall. The euro would go up? Right? Wrong.

You wake up today and Europe is still burning. The euro is down. The dollar is up. Greek bond rates are down, but just slightly. Bond rates for Spain and Portugal are not falling.

Financial guru, Nouriel Roubini foresees rising sovereign debt leading to defaults.

Roubini predicted the U.S. financial collapse at least a year before it happened. Now he is predicting sovereign defaults for European Union (EU) nations.

When the financial meltdown struck in the United States in 2008, the contagion quickly spread throughout the world, including the European Union (EU). However, unlike the Federal Reserve, which has unilateral authority to act on behalf of the United States, the EU has no such authority.

The EU barely survived 2008 and 2009. Then this year, Greece had difficulty refinancing its sovereign debt. Again, unlike the United States, where the debt came from financial institutions, in Greece the debt is government debt.

Thursday's events in Europe provided some encouragement, if not universal calm, regarding the Greek debt saga, including the promise that Europe and the International Monetary Fund will now move relatively swiftly to put together a suitable package that will assist the Mediterranean nation's transition to fiscal solvency.

But even if Europe again show signs of "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," investors should not anticipate a sudden return to the barter system, globally.

In a nutshell here's the problem. Greece needs to cover some 8.8 billion euro in bond redemptions that fall due in May, including an 8.5 billion euro, 10-year bond due May 19.

Greece had hoped to issue dollar denominated bonds to cover the shortfall. However when Pimco, the world's largest income manager, failed to express interest in the dollar bonds, Greece is being forced to find other financing.