Europe joins the bailout game
Can Europe pull together before its banks fall apart?
“You know you’re in trouble when you have to bail out the bailouts,” said Floyd Norris in The New York Times online, and “Europe did that twice very late Sunday night.” Following a failed summit on Saturday, Germany had to salvage a week-old bailout of its No. 2 mortgage lender, Hypo Real Estate, and the Dutch government restructured its bailout of Fortis.
Worse yet, as America’s “financial upheaval” washes "with full force on to the shores of the Old Continent,” said David Marsh in MarketWatch, Europe is falling apart. Just when it needs unity, European nations are resurrecting old “beggar-thy-neighbor polices”—Ireland, then Greece, and now Germany have guaranteed their residents’ bank deposits, and other countries are feeling pressure to match them.
Europe's governments “are having to throw the rulebook away,” said Britain’s The Guardian in an editorial. If Europe doesn’t rethink its economic model—creating a “continental banking regulator,” say—Hypo won’t be the last teetering bank.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Week contest: Swift stimulus
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'It's hard to resist a sweet deal on a good car'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
10 concert tours to see this winter
The Week Recommends Keep warm traveling the United States — and the world — to see these concerts
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published