CPenn+Blog

2/4/13 Economic Disaster in Europe http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16290598 Many sources say that Europe is going into a economic recession. Many people agree that Europe is heading into a economic depression. But why? There are many reasons for the economic depression such as greed and country not obeying the borrowing law. Countries such as Italy, Germany, and France have not obeyed the borrowing limits the the European parliament has put into place. Countries in Europe are allowed to borrow 3% of the money do to the "stability and growth act" that went into law in 1997. Almost all countries in Europe except Spain has disobeyed the act. The odd part is, People are lending Germany money at an all time low interest rate that's as low as 2%. Spain should be reaping the benefits because they didn't disobey the law right? False, Spain and Italy are both tied with high interest rate that's as high as 7%. Another reason for the economic depression is the build up of debt from 2008 in Spain and Italy. Surprisingly the debt isn't from the government, but from the private sector due to companies and mortgage borrowers. It was due to extremely low interest rates because they joined the euro. European debt is massive. Here the percent of debt major countries owe. Germany 2000- 226% 2010- 241% France 2000- 243% 2010- 321% Italy 2000- 252% 2010- 310% Spain 2000- 258% 2010- 355% European parliament as of right now are trying to pass a law to cap spending and lower the amount of money countries are allowed to borrow.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100489653 The New Problem Child

According to CNBC news, the new problem in the euro zone is the UK. Runaway debt, a credit downgrade, and sluggish to negative economic growth are just some of the obstacles facing Europe in there economic disaster. the euro is now at a 31 month low and still declining at a scary rate. But why should we worry about Europe we don't even live there right? Wrong our economy is like a ecosystem, if you take a large predator(which we will say is Europe) everything down to the little micro organisms change what the have to do. Basically if the euro falls the united stay is not that far off from the dollar falling. We should all be worried about the euro falling because we will be close behind them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21655475 The Euro-zone just cant win at all. The finance minister of the Euro-zone will meet in Brussels later today to discuss a 22billion dollar bailout of most countries in Europe. Easy you might think. Well its not, many countries are fighting over how much money they want to get bailed out for. Portugal is now trying to renegotiate parts of its own bailout. If only the countries could get along and come up with a deal to help everybody. Many countries want more and more time to pay the money back. That's not good for the economy because that's just more money the country owes. Hopefully the countries will come up with a deal that fits everybody's need in the least amount of time.

Carli Freeman- Review your spelling and grammar just to be sure that all of your statements flow smoothly and you are wording everything in the correct way.Also, make sure that your points are in order. If you are asking a question, be sure to make the answer clear and precise.

Brooke Peters - This is an interesting topic, Chris. I like the ecosystem analogy; it makes your explanation easy to understand. One thing I'd advise you to do though is to proofread your posts for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Paige Wales--Chris, I think you did a good job with explaining this topic. I also agree with Brooke and Carli about reviewing your spelling and grammar so it flows smoother.

Eden White: I think this is very insightful and interesting. I recommend revising your work for errors, otherwise this is very good. Taylor Taglieri - This is very interesting. I don't understand why Italy and Spain have such a high rate and Germany only has a 2% rate though.