Soothesayer, if you think the Euro isn't in trouble you need to do a lot of reading in a short time.
There's some good information here:
http://armstrongeconomics.com/euro-crisis
I'd also suggest that you look up some basic background information on the guy before you call him an internet quack. The guy is a very well respected economist and more recently was at the center of a rather famous case(at least among finance professionals) involving HSBC, Gorbachev/Putin, and the IMF in the early 2000's.
it also doesn't help that there's a massive hunt for cash underway in Europe. In Italy they even tried putting cash sniffing dogs at some airports. France in particular has gone batshit crazy hunting for physical assets to include cash and gold. If you live in Spain and try to fly out of the country while wearing a lot of jewelry you risk being pulled aside by security while they weigh the gold and silver.
To answer the OP's question: opening a US bank account from abroad is relatively easy. The reason why it's so difficult to do the reverse is because of a low known as FATCA which requires that foreign financial institutions report on the accounts of US citizens or risk having their assets in the US seized. No such requirement exists for EU citizens attempting to open a US bank account. However, be warned that the reporting requirements are now so low that it's relatively easy to trip them and be investigated for "money laundering".
Two thing: avoid large, bulge bracket financial institutions like the plague. Firms like Bank of America and Wells Fargo are generally engaged in risky and aggressive proprietary trading strategies and thanks to recent shifts in G20 policies your savings accounts can be used to cover those losses in the event they make the company insolvent. You want a firm that is NOT involved in investment banking or risky securities trading activities. Most smaller, regional US banks are good. I also have had the chance to meet with some of PNC bank's mangement and shadow their operations. The experience left me extremely impressed with the company's ethics and care for their customers.
Secondly, a better hedge might be to invest your money in the equity of "defensive" industries(ones that typically aren't impacted much by economic booms or busts) such as utility and tobacco companies. You're introducing some level of capital risk into your portfolio that way but there is a massive regulatory advantage: equities are NOT taxable until you sell any of the shares involved. From a policy perspective it also helps that the ultra-elite derive much of their income from equity investments. As a result the US government has historically been hesitant to implement any policies that negatively impact common stock investments.
