Politico: White House on Greece: Not our problem
Despite stock sell-off, administration says U.S. has little to fear from eurozone crisis.
U.S. stocks tanked on Monday with the Dow giving up all its gains for the year as Greece headed toward default and possible exit from the eurozone common currency union.
And the White House said: not our problem.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 350.33 points, or close to 2 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq each also lost around 2 percent as Greece kept its banks shuttered, fearing a run on cash, and prepared to default on its debt on Tuesday.
Asked about the stock market decline and Greece on Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest basically shrugged it off. “The fact is the U.S. exposure to Greece is small, in terms of our direct exposure,” he said. “We do continue to urge all sides to contribute to pragmatic discussions.”
WNU Editor: The U.S. has a bigger problem right now .... Puerto Rico wants to be able to declare bankruptcy (CNN). More to the point .... Puerto Rico poses bigger threat to U.S. investors than Greece (Market Watch).
This is quite true. The US has little exposure to Greece. Puerto Rico does pose a bigger threat to the US.
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion would for Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and for the US to sever all ties to it. It is not something that can contribute to the US anyway nor can the US contribute to it. Once ties are severed Puerto Rico does not need to burden itself with sending Representatives to DC and the US does not need to burden itself with Puerto Rico. This is a win-win all the way around except perhaps for the creditors who stupidly lent money they never should have.
As for Greece, I predict they will get that bail out from Germany. Failure to do so means Greece could leave the EU and others may follow. Germany has simply invested to much in this to just walk away from it. The EU concept was always a bad idea. It was always going to be better for the common defense and economic prosperity for all for these countries who have radically different cultures to chart their own course as independent nations. Trying to force them together can only lead to war and economic hardship Unfortunately as often is the case with ideology people cling to them and it often leads to bad decision making.
Even if this is an American problem. There's nothing we can do nor do we understand it. Any attempts by us to intervene will not help and may only make matters worse. The Obama Administration is wise to stay out of this. This proves an old adage. "A broken clock is right twice a day!!"