4 ms·
I would be interested how the bailout is perceived in the US. What is your understanding of the workings of the eurozone?
by mrich 15y ago
I would be interested how the bailout is perceived in the US. What is your understanding of the workings of the eurozone?
- stevenbedrick 15y agoI'll give you a hint: 90% of Americans probably couldn't find Greece on a map, and of the 10% who could, 90% wouldn't know what the word "eurozone" meant.
- vondur 15y agoSad but true.
- learc83 15y agoNo, just ridiculous hyperbole.
- fmota 15y agoYeah, the 10% figures are greatly exaggerated. More like 5%.
- stevenbedrick 15y agohttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1120_021120_GeoRoperSurvey.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1120_021120_... Hyperbole, perhaps. Ridiculous, no.
- maratd 15y agoYup. A country made up of 99% ignorant twits (your math) is responsible for one of the largest and robust economies on the planet. Good one.
- SkyMarshal 15y agoAs far as the Euro bailout goes, my take is that it's roughly the same as what happened in the US - too-big-to-fail banks holding too much bad debt (sovereign debt in Europe, vs mortgage, other collateral-backed, and municipal debt in the US), and maybe still too-highly leveraged using those debt 'assets' as collateral. If the collateral (Greek, Portugese, Irish, etc bonds) defaults, not only do the banks take a huge haircut on their capital, but they also get margin calls on their leverage that they can't pay. Boom, bankpocalypse. The German government knows this, just as the US government did, which is why they too will proceed with the bailout despite citizens' vehement opposition and at the risk of losing their next election. The alternative is something that, once it occurs, can't be undone easily, and which most citizens would probably regret once it became real. I'm sure there are tons of details I'm missing, but haven't been following this as closely the past two years. But that's one American's take on it, fwiw.
- maaku 15y agoI would add that while the U.S. government took quick and massive action of first bailouts then stimulus measured in the trillions of USD, the euro story seems to be one of hesitation and deliberation. From an American perspective, somebody--Germany, most likely--needs to step up and take decisive, perhaps even unilateral action, and do so sooner rather than later.