GREECE–WILL SHE, OR WONT SHE?
According to Bloomberg, the EU countrieswill have to come up with $441 BILLION dollars to save Greece, since there will be a snowballeffect as the PIIGS look to the EU for bailout money.
“Size Matters’ as EU Weighs Up Greek Rescue Bill: Chart
By Frances Robinson
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) – Europe may need to stump up as much as 320 billion euros ($441 billion) if it decides to bail out Greece because it would open the door to rescuing other countries in financial distress, according to BNP Paribas.
“To come up with a bailout plan that would be reasonably certain of success, it would have to cover all the most likely candidates, and it would have to be big,†said Paul Mortimer- Lee, global head of market economics at BNP in London. “Size matters when you are trying to scare off speculators and to comfort nervy bondholders”.
Almost a half a trillion dollars is a big meal for the EU, especially when it is still mired in a recession.
And, does it end at that point?
According to Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize Winner and the “Father of the Euro” the biggest worry is Italy. If Italy collapses, the Euro may sink.
Professor Mundell does not think that will happen, but, as we say in Italy Ci vedremo. (We will see.)
