Comment & Debate
“The European Union’s Greece Bailout Problem.” US News & World Report. May 2010 “Had Greece defaulted on its loans German banks would have taken huge losses. That would have created a domino effect and a second world banking crisis. It’s a no win situation. All they have done is postpone the day of reckoning. The global economy is playing an old shell game. It’s days are numbered.”
Sam Norton. “Necessary Evil: Why the US Should Push for a Greek Bailout.” American Foreign Policy. March 28th, 2010: “With so much depending on the revival of Western economies, any potential obstacle to the achievement of that goal must be removed. Greek insolvency would not only bring its own economy to a grinding halt, but could also have a domino effect. Many other members of the European Union, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland, are also coping with excessive debt levels incurred by rampant spending over the past decade and sharp drops in revenue owing to the recession. In spite of EU rules requiring that budget deficits not exceed 3 percent of GDP, the lack of any effective enforcement mechanism, combined with “creative accounting,” has allowed profligacy to go unpunished. Already, confidence in the Euro has plummeted, causing its relative value to drop. Concern about the future of the common market could lead Eastern European nations, such Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, to rethink their planned entry into the Euro Zone, while strengthening the appeal of “Euroskepticism.” Critics of the Euro have long argued that a monetary union would lead to this kind of a crisis; now, their warnings appear to be vindicated.”