WHAT TO DO ABOUT GREECE?
Its insolvent economy needs a bigger debt reduction. A precipitous exit from the euro would be a disaster.
GREECE, progenitor of the euro zone’s debt drama, is back at centre-stage. The reason is a battle between the Greek government, its European and IMF rescuers, and the holders of Greek bonds over the terms of a “voluntary” reduction in its private debts. Greece’s economy is in far worse shape than when the outlines of a deal were put together last October, so there is a bigger financial hole to plug. Germany and other rescuers don’t want to offer more money, not least because Greece’s politicians have broken so many of the promises they made to reform. Bondholders don’t want to take a bigger hit...read more
HARD TIMES, LEAN FIRMS
How much longer can America keep increasing productivity?
EVERYONE complains that corporate America is reluctant to hire additional workers. Far less attention has been paid to the flip side of the jobless recovery: the remarkable improvement in American productivity. How long can this continue? “I see no limit,” says William Hickey, the boss of Sealed Air, a packaging-maker. Is he right to be so optimistic?...read more
IS THIS REALLY THE END?
Unless Germany and the ECB move quickly, the single currency’s collapse is looming
EVEN as the euro zone hurtles towards a crash, most people are assuming that, in the end, European leaders will do whatever it takes to save the single currency. That is because the consequences of the euro’s destruction are so catastrophic that no sensible policymaker could stand by and let it happen....read more