Today, markets rallied.  Financial markets around the world let loose a big sigh of relief as the President of European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, said today at a conference in London that he is ready to do “whatever it takes” to support the euro.  People have been wondering whether or not the ECB would do […]

One day, markets are up immediately after some EU summit but back down again just hours later.  Another day, Spain asks for a bailout because its banks have reached the point where they might fail, all while Greek voters are hitting the streets to protest drastic spending cuts and austerity measures that are meant to […]

As members of a monetary union, stronger economies have an interest in keeping the problems in the weaker economies from spreading and affecting the rest of the union.  Therefore, there is a common stake at making sure each country is meeting its obligations and doing the best it can to support its economy.  A common […]

Much of the high sovereign debt in many euro area countries are direct results of policies that led to high spending in the years before the financial crisis hit in late 2008 (like Greece, Portugal, and to an extent Italy), but in other cases are results of excessive lending by private banks into the real […]