http://www.stocktradingtogo.com/2009/03/19/europe-in-crisis/ Investing Online Made Easy Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:35:23 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://www.stocktradingtogo.com/2009/03/19/europe-in-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-90474 Allen Sat, 21 Mar 2009 06:01:34 +0000 http://www.stocktradingtogo.com/?p=4916#comment-90474 I agree that the problems will not be systemic, and things will not be "brought all down". But many segments of Europe are probably worse off than the US and the European economy or Euro is probably not much better off than the US or USD. This would've been a more fitting post half a year or maybe a year ago, but I saw that related content was not on the site so I thought I'd add it. Thanks for your feedback. I agree that the problems will not be systemic, and things will not be “brought all down”. But many segments of Europe are probably worse off than the US and the European economy or Euro is probably not much better off than the US or USD.
This would’ve been a more fitting post half a year or maybe a year ago, but I saw that related content was not on the site so I thought I’d add it.
Thanks for your feedback.

]]> http://www.stocktradingtogo.com/2009/03/19/europe-in-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-90367 johnson Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:56:33 +0000 http://www.stocktradingtogo.com/?p=4916#comment-90367 Duh. Many of the countries in this article are not EU or euro zone and hence do not incur the one central bank, many countries problem that you refer to. Iceland is not an EU member, nor euro country. The UK has its own currency and central bank. Switzlerand is neither an EU member nor euro country. The Baltics are tiny, and non-euro, as are most of the Balkans (except Slovenia). While western Europe's banking sector total exposure to Eastern Europe is often cited at around 1.7 tn, the size of the net problem is much smaller. Private estimates that I have seen range from 50bn to 200bn. No small change but not enough to bring it all down. While these countries borrowed much too much in foreign currencies (same old emerging markets problem), they are mostly relatively lightly indebted to start with ie. total private sector debt:gdp is 25%-75%, versus some multiple of that for developed countries in europe and elsewhere. There have been and will be further problems, but the size is being extrapolated by various dramatic headline makers. Duh. Many of the countries in this article are not EU or euro zone and hence do not incur the one central bank, many countries problem that you refer to. Iceland is not an EU member, nor euro country. The UK has its own currency and central bank. Switzlerand is neither an EU member nor euro country. The Baltics are tiny, and non-euro, as are most of the Balkans (except Slovenia).
While western Europe’s banking sector total exposure to Eastern Europe is often cited at around 1.7 tn, the size of the net problem is much smaller. Private estimates that I have seen range from 50bn to 200bn. No small change but not enough to bring it all down.
While these countries borrowed much too much in foreign currencies (same old emerging markets problem), they are mostly relatively lightly indebted to start with ie. total private sector debt:gdp is 25%-75%, versus some multiple of that for developed countries in europe and elsewhere.
There have been and will be further problems, but the size is being extrapolated by various dramatic headline makers.

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