debt crisis

The Euro Zone Crisis: Are the Merkozy Headed for Divorce?


The seamless partnership France and Germany forged in past weeks now shows signs of fraying as both countries spar over the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) and proposals to mutualize euro zone debt. By pooling financial liabilities and assets across the 17-nation euro zone, stronger nations like Germany and France could back …

Whither the European (Dis)Union?


Is significantly greater integration the surest way to prevent both the euro and even the entire European Union from blowing apart? Or is EU federation–and the basic powers national governments now wield being weakened in the process–exactly the kind of radical fusion certain to send countries jealous of their sovereignty fleeing …

Europe’s Debt Tragicomedy: Horror Show Turns Into Shambolic Farce


There are occasions when even the scariest of movies will push the atmosphere of dread, danger, and doom a bit too far, and leave the scenario of improbable horror and panic feeling just stupid. That moment has arrived in Nightmare On Euro Street, as people who watched Europe’s escalating crisis through their fingers in terror begin …

EU Debt Deal: Déjà Vu All Over Again?


Let’s be fair: the 4 AM announcement Thursday by European Union leaders of a new and urgently needed package of measures to confront the euro zone debt crisis is a significant break-through that may eventually represent the corner being turned in the seemingly endless drama. And because the accord pledges massive sums of money to …

Channelling Buffet, French Rich Demand Higher Taxes

It’s a small, real-time world, and it’s now evident no niche is too elite or removed from it to withstand a fad that has gone viral. Take France’s rich folk, who have turned billionaire businessman Warren Buffet into the hottest trend-setter among the globe’s super-wealthy by echoing his attention-grabbing New York Times

After the Riots: the Economic Cost of London’s Mayhem

The shocking violence that rocked some of the U.K.’s biggest cities has ebbed, but the country is still counting the costs of the destruction — not only in lives (so far, five), but to property, tourism, and the difficult work of repairing the country’s reputation. The riots came at a wretched moment for the British—plunged in the …

After Downgrade, Chinese Press Blasts U.S. Borrowing

Official Chinese media have lashed out at American debt following rating agency Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating. “The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” Xinhua, the …

Can French Bank Deal On Greek Debt Save The Euro?

Could the end of the Greek debt crisis be in view—and with it the pressure that has put the very future of the euro in jeopardy? That’s the hope behind a draft deal French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed Monday, under which France’s private banks holding some $21 billion in Greek sovereign debt would roll nearly 70% of that …

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