Penny-pincher President Angela Merkel is coming under fire for promoting austerity measures in the Eurozone. Her critics wanting to spend German money to get Greece out of trouble have an unlikely ally  in US President Barack Obama. The Group of 8 9 (wealthiest countries)  leader’s meeting at Camp David over the weekend bought pressure to bear on the German president with the main promoter of growth spending over austerity appearing to be the U.S President.
This from the New York Times:
Greece will default on it’s debt. There is now no question on this. The issue of who owns the debt will need to be answered promptly but European leaders have been preparing for this event for at least six months so it is not an impossible task, the main issue will be who is responsible for the recapitalisation of at risk banks. the Eurozone as a whole via the incoming European Stability Mechanism or the sovereign nation, prior, which wouldn’t be in a position to do so anyways – think Spain’s troubled institutions..
Charlemagne’s Notebook (The Economist) has a good overview of the possibility of Grexit i.e. Greece leaving the Eurozone.
An exit will not happen given 75% of Greeks want to stay in the Eurozone, but the Euro football looks to be kicked around for a while given Greece’s looming default and the U.S 2012 presidential elections. It won’t hurt Obama’s chances to look to be playing the Occupy D.C. card.
