As Greece squeezes by without a “Grexit” — earlier this week eurozone ministers approved a four-month bailout extension— markets, politicians, pundits are far calmer today than they were a few years ago. Back then, in the fall of 2011, the prospect of a eurozone without Greece sent global markets into turmoil. Granted, it was bad year, what with a near-U.S. debt default and pervasive fears of a European Monetary Union undone by mountains of bad bank debt. By late November 2011, international credit markets were exhibiting the same danger signs of stress that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, and it appeared that the long-feared next stage of a global financial implosion was at hand. It took the simultaneously actions of the world’s central banks, followed by a “final” bailout of Greece by the “troika” of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the Eurozone countries to the tune of 240 billion Euros.
Read moreIs 2015 Really the Year for Foreign Stocks?
Famed Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller made some waves recently when he suggested that he might sell his holdings of U.S. stocks and instead buy European equities. The reason? “Europe is so much cheaper.”
Read moreDon’t Turn America Into Europe
The Europeans—some of them, anyway—are finally beginning to concede that austerity has gone awry. There’s less growth, more structural unemployment, little bank lending and economic contraction. And now, of course, we have a political backlash in the person of Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Greece’s Syriza party, who upon winning the prime ministership last Sunday declared grandly (and probably over-optimistically) that Greece will now “leave behind the austerity that ruined it.”
Read moreNo Sex, Please, We’re French
The government of France has just made what on the face of it appears to be a nonannouncement announcement: It will not include illegal drugs and prostitution in its official calculation of the country’s gross domestic product.
Read moreThe Upside: The Reasons Europe Still Haunts the World Economy
Egypt is getting the attention right now but Europe remains a serious concern for the global economy, in part because of high unemployment among the young, says Reuters columnist Zachary Karabell.
Read moreThe Number: 2.03%
That's the interest rate that Spain had to pay for selling six-month bonds. Dan Gross and Zachary Karabell on how this could be the beginning of the end of the Euro crisis.
Read moreElection Shows Greece Unlikely to Cause Financial Meltdown, Despite Gloom and Doom
The eyes of the financial world were on Greece once again this weekend, as the Hellenes went to the polls for the second time in six weeks. It’s fair to say that the world hasn’t been this focused on Greece for more than 2,000 years, and the ability of this nation of 11 million people to hold the world in thrall is, on the face of it, rather extraordinary.
Read moreZachary Karabell: "The Fate of Our Nation - Are Better Times Ahead or Worse Days in Store?"
Presented at the Colorado Foothills World Affairs Council on 05/15/2012.
Read moreEconomic News We’re Thankful For This Thanksgiving
As we turn to Thanksgiving, let us a pause for a moment and take a time-out from the storm of gloom that has descended across this land and so many others. If you pay even passing attention to politics, to the economy, to Wall Street, or to public sentiment, you know the mood is bleak. The litany of woes is well known—ranging from a sclerotic and debt-plagued Europe to a dysfunctional Congress to a possibly slowing China to high unemployment and widespread dissatisfaction with an economic system of uneven rewards. It is enough to make Agnewesque nattering nabobs of negativism proud.
Read moreZachary Karabell: Don't Worry About Greece
Greece may be spooking financial markets, but not to worry, says The Daily Beast's Zachary Karabell. The reason? Greece just doesn't have an economy large enough to cause to a major meltdown in Europe, much less the world.
Read moreKarabell: The Worst-Case Scenario for Europe
Zachary Karabell on what could be the worst-case economic scenario for Europe.
Read moreKarabell: Are European Leaders Being Timid?
Zachary Karabell on whether European leaders are being too timid about the financial crisis.
Read moreZachary Karabell on the European Debt Crisis: Watch Video
Zachary Karabell talks about what Europe’s debt problems mean for us—and why we shouldn’t be scared.
Read moreKarabell: Understanding Europe's Economic Crisis
Zachary Karabell on what Americans don't understand about the crisis in Europe.
Read moreGreece and the Growing Economic Crisis: Why Europe Won’t Implode
Europe will act to prevent Greece from defaulting and triggering a global financial crisis
Read moreEurope’s Economic Crisis: Could Default in Greece, Eurozone Sink Us?
As Americans fixate on the battle for the Republican presidential nominationand the continuing travails of the U.S. economy, the real story in financial land is what is happening in Europe. The issues aren’t new: concerns over the contagion of a default of Greek debt, or Irish or Portuguese or Italian, have been percolating for more than a year and a half. But there is a definite sense of late that these issues are potentially spinning out of control.
Read moreMarket Crash: Wall Street’s Credibility Gap Causes Freak-Outs
In case you stepped away for a few bucolic summer days, emulating Nicolas Sarkozy and much of France itself, you probably noticed that global markets swooned yet again on Wednesday to the tune of nearly 5 percent down before staging an equally impressive comeback on Thursday.
Read moreMarkets Spooked by S&P Downgrade but Have No Alternative to U.S.-led System
And the beat goes on. Global markets have begun to digest the fallout from Standard & Poor’s scurrilous downgrade of American sovereign debt, and equity markets in Asia and Europe opened lower. Odd pockets of perceived safety rallied, like Swiss francs, and of course gold soared, as investors attempted to win the game of musical chairs on the deck of the Titanic.
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