Rick Santelli made a stunning observation Wednesday about the shocking report that the economy actually shrunk in the fourth quarter last year.

"We are now Europe," he declared on CNBC's Squawk Box.

"Hey Joe," Santelli said, "when you act like Europe, you get growth rates like Europe, and our discussions with economists sounds like we're in Europe. They have the same discussions constantly."

"They’re always doing the right thing," he continued. "They’re always thinking they know better. And this is the kind of growth. We have become Europe. We are now Europe."

Steve Liesman pushed back, “We reduced federal spending, government spending by 15 percent. Which part of that’s not Europe don’t you get?”

“And why do we need to reduce government spending?” asked Santelli. “Because we run trillion dollar deficits for crying out loud.”

(HT Mediaite)