German investors pumped all their money into Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland etc. looking for higher returns than they were getting at home. This created bubbles on those countries and pushed up labour costs, making those countries uncompetitive against Germany. Now these countries have to regain competitiveness to bring the eurozone back into equlibrium. The best way to do this is for germany to inflate their economy while those other countries inflate more slowly, but Germany won't do that and is insisting on massive internal devaluations in those countries. But the austerity policies that these countries are using to try and devalue are making their problems even worse and creating depression-like conditions. So it's all fucked.
Things may change now as election results have created a French-led Latin bloc of countries who are rebelling against the austerity policies and trying to change Germany's mind. But don't hold your breath.
EDIT: Can't find the graph on the internet.
Last edited by Kirkland Laing; 05-22-2012 at 05:28 PM.
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