Do we need an economists view point to understand the Euro crisis? Looks like an ordinary problem that will require an extraordinary solution. Just saying..
I am a fan of Peter Schiff. I don't take much notice of his predictions as I know that no one is able to forecast with precision, however, I do enjoy his eloquent way of explaining his Austrian School mindset and efforts to convince Congress.
http://www.sovereignman.com/ You donât need a PhD in economicsâ you just need to understand basic arithmetic. Europeâs problems can also be explained as simply. Greece effectively has no money, and its only access to capital is continued bailouts. There are four options for the country being discussed: 1) Austerity. Not only is this politically unpopular, it causes social unrest. People wonât stand for it⦠nor will they be able to pay enough police officers to beat them back with batons. The populist uprising will squash any meaningful austerity plan. 2) âGrow its way outâ. Not possible. When you count public and private debt together (roughly 260% of GDP), Greece is spending roughly 15% of its entire GDP just on interest payments. Thatâs an incredibly high barrier to growth. 3) Inflation. Ordinarily, governments would just print their way out⦠but this isnât even possible right now because Greece doesnât control its own printing press. 4) Default. Result? Set off a chain reaction of banking failures and a derivatives meltdown. Utter financial carnage. Nobody wants to see this.
what about Meredith Whitney? She's not an economist by trade, but she make prediction on S&P and bank sector worldwide. She also advise the G20. there is a 5th case: Germany & France can loan trillion to German/French banks to keep them liquid, and get every1 to accept 50% forgiveness on greece, that way, greece will function reasonably normally for the next few years