Thu, May 24, 2012, 8:20 AM EDT - U.S. Markets open in 1 hr 10 mins

Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Roubini: Europe’s Contagion “Has Now Gone Viral…and Global”

    Follow Yahoo!'s The Daily Ticker on Facebook here!

    On Tuesday, the IMF announced a new set of measures designed to provide short-term liquidity to ailing nations, the latest in a series of measures aimed at stemming Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

    But "money alone is not going to resolve the problems" in Europe, where the "contagion is spreading" far beyond the so-called periphery, according to New York economics professor Nouriel Roubini. "The contagion has now gone viral, cross Atlantic and global."

    In Europe, the problems of Greece, Italy and Portugal have now spread to Italy, Spain and beyond. "Most ominously," Roubini notes, credit spreads are widening on the sovereign debts of France and Belgian among other "core" nations. In addition, there are acute signs of stress in interbank lending such as LIBOR and the TED spread while many European banks are facing a shortage of dollars.

    "It's a slow-motion train wreck," the famed economist says.

    Given the financial and fundamental problems in Europe -- slow growth, too much debt and rising current account deficits -- Roubini believes there "at least a 50% probability" of a breakup of the eurozone in the next 2-to-3 years, which would almost certainly lead to a fast-motion train wreck.

    Aaron Task is the host of The Daily Ticker. You can follow him on Twitter at @aarontask or email him at altask@yahoo.com

    Yahoo! Poll

    Will Congress get anything accomplished before the November elections?

    Loading...
    Poll Choice Options
    • Yes
    • No
     
     
    Top Locations Chicago

    133 comments

    • Patrick  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  4 months ago
      Wikipedia} life expectancy US 78.3 Europe 80.9, Homicides per capita US 4.8 Europe 1.3
      Vacation days US 13 Europe 34. Euro 1.30 US dollars. Health care and universities in Europe are free in the US they are prohibitively expensive. What do you all smoke? We need their system.
    • A  •  6 months ago
      Capitalism without the threat of Bankruptcy for the Banking Cartel is like Religion without the threat of Hell for the Thieves.
    • Born Again Hard  •  6 months ago
      Charity begins at home and spreads abroad. It's time for America to look out for Americans.
      • Linda 6 months ago
        amen!!!
      • Linda 6 months ago
        in military jargon, CYA,and watch your 6
      • Linda 6 months ago
        in military jargon, CYA,and watch your 6
    • bill  •  6 months ago
      WW3 is between the corrupt governments and the people.
      • bunkyboy 5 months ago
        How did the government politicians get there? THE PEOPLE VOTED THEM IN! So how on earth can you say stuff like " WW3 between the corrupt governments and the people"?. It's the corrupt people (who want the government to give them everything) who elect the politicians. You sound like these idiot "occupy" people.
        Stop with the socialist blather . You sound like one of those Euro dopes who believe Stalin, Lenin, and Marx. It's really getting Europe far, isn't it?
    • Common Sense  •  6 months ago
      The problem with the advanced economies is excessive debt. Eventually, this debt must be repaid or forgiven. Central banks have created this problem and someday the we will face the problem. This will result in deleveraging and economic contraction. We have consumed in the past and put that on our credit cards. We will eventually pay that bill. It is now payback time thanks to the Fed and other central bankers.
      • Fiscal Conservative 6 months ago
        Debt is indeed the problem but central banks are not to blame for this. Exactly which central bank has budget responsibility? Governments are the problem because governments set fiscal policy, not central banks.

        The recent apparent budget deficit vigilance in the US is a farce. It would be political suicide for any politician to endorse real budget discipline so we keep kicking the can down the road. The stalemate in Washington is only about posturing for the 2012 presidential election. If we elect a Republican president in the US in 2012 it is very unlikely that we will see real entitlement reform because it will lead to a taxpayer revolt.

        Your profile says you are 65. Would you honestly vote for a politician who was determined to balance the budget by eliminating Medicare and Social Security? Don't tell me that you paid into these programs because that's not how they work. Future generations pay for your benefits. You paid for the people before you. The money you and I paid in is long gone and we will have to increase our debt to pay for future benefits. Everyone wants to eliminate the debt right up to the point where the discussion gets specific about cutting the goverment programs that they depend on.
      • Anonymous 6 months ago
        Politicians spent the money, not the Central Banks or the FED. The politicians just try to pass the buck.

        The Fed's Board of Governors are appointed by the President and ratified by Congress. However, the Fed doesn't spend tax-payer money, but returns its net earnings to the taxpayer annually. It's the only gov't agency that does. Likewise, the Fed doesn't control the government’s budget or purse strings. Congress and the President are responsible in this area.

        I don't agree with keeping rates low since it penalizes the responsible to pay for the corrupt and irresponsible. However, I understand that the Fed must do this to keep a very sick horse (the U.S. economy) standing. To solve the problem, the politicians must cut back spending and keep the corrupt and irresponsible under control. At present, the corrupt and irresponsible control the politicians!
      • Sunny 6 months ago
        There is anywhere between 60 to 600 trillion worth of toxic derivatives on the FED balance sheet, leveraged at a ratio of anywhere between 50 :1 to 500 : 1, that the government does not know about because it cannot fully audit the FED. Talk about leverage.
    • P  •  6 months ago
      WARNING the FDIC is now broke and it is completely impossible for them to become solvent again. To confirm google "Bank of America FDIC Trillions Federal Reserve". feel free to repost this as it is important news that is not being reported! The entire world is over leveraged and a small market change can wipe out billions or even trillions! Solution is to take physical possession of your cash and anything else you have on paper. Get it while you still can, first come first serve! The leveraging keeps increasing so that means smaller and smaller market changes can wipe everything out. There is a reason why the old people hid their money in there homes instead of trusting banks to keep their money! Even without the financial conditions Banks only had 10% of your money at any given time assuming everyone pulled their money out thanks to fractional reserve banking. We may see 0% reserves before you know it. Increasing the money supply (which has been the Feds solution) will only increase the leveraging so that solution will not work. FYI - the Euro is in even worse shape then the $ if you can believe that!
      • JC is king of kings 5 months ago
        1st paragraph "europes SOVEREIGH debt crisis" is such a sublimible "LIE", the fact that none are Sovereign At ALL ! When you hand your purse (money system) over to a world bank /federal reserve (owned greatly by Saudi's) YOU ARE NOT SOVEREIGN ! AT ANY time they can collapse ANY government ! WE AMericans spend 1/3 of our tax money on defense ! What a joke ! Our enemies (ideaologically opposed) have bought & paid for our sovereignty....nothing but a total collapes will "free" us, ...but Americans will choose SERVATUDE over freedom (as now they're concerned with intitlements rather than the loss of constitutional rights)
    • S Siva  •  6 months ago
      Our politicians' failure will lead to human sufferings due to their double standards policies, greediness, unethical acts and dishonesty.
    • Gary  •  6 months ago
      one thing's for sure - the right answer to a crisis caused by excessive leverage isn't more leverage - US and european governments have got to cut spending to stop making the debt crisis even worse
    • wrdsmth  •  6 months ago
      hard times and hoarding straight ahead. fasten your seat belt, passengers, bend over and assume the position.
    • Amerika  •  6 months ago
      "european contagion" Love that quote! Sure, let's blame it on those europeans, the US had nothing to do with it. It's not like the US was the biggest player in the housing bust, been running bigger annual deficits than anyone in history, devaluaing their currency and destroying the economy.
    • MC  •  6 months ago
      My banker turned me down for a car loan. But that is alright. I am sleeping with his wife now and that is a lot more fun than busting my rear making car payments.
    • ChrisM  •  6 months ago
      The problem is that many of the European countries have such low birth rates and early retirement ages that there's not enough people left to work. On top of that their life expenctancy is very high. No wonder they're going broke.
    • GARY  •  6 months ago
      Nouriel Roubini has predicted 17 of the last two recessions. Economics is the only profession where you can be wrong for your entire career and still be considered an expert.
    • Joseph  •  6 months ago
      They say they are worried about contagion. It's already here. Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy - how many more do they need to see the truth!
    • John S  •  6 months ago
      Poor Roubini, a day late and a dollar short. This is the result of four decades of bubble blowing, false demand caused by cheap money. Welcome to the party, pal!
    • Eagle  •  6 months ago
      Bent over, here it comes again.....
    • raymond  •  6 months ago
      capitalism isn't the problem, it's the fraud, abuse, mismangement, not following the rules, lying. So now we have to come up with a name for mixing business welfare, Why are businesses being rewarded with bailouts and the ceo's are not being fired?
    • Maryellen  •  6 months ago
      Buy gold.
    • TruthNFreedom  •  6 months ago
      All debt like all money is imaginary.

      Consider this...what is a dollar? If a trillion dollars were dumped it into the ocean in 1000 years no one would even dive after it. It is worthless. Therefore the debt that is associated with the currency is an illusion.

      Debt is a tool created by the banksters to enslave the population and control people. We need to eliminate cenral banks and have Govt deal direct with each other unfettered by a middleman skimming off the top

      Time to create a new model it is a new day.
    • dick  •  6 months ago
      If the IMF is giving out money The USA is giving it to them

    FOLLOW THE DAILY TICKER

    The Daily Ticker covers the most important business stories of the day -- the economy, investing, corporate leadership and politics. The Daily Ticker picks up where Tech Ticker left off and is hosted by Aaron Task, Henry Blodget and Daniel Gross. Often serious, sometimes irreverent and always interesting, The Daily Ticker gives viewers a unique take on the business world's most crucial stories.

    Subscribe and RSS

    [X]

    How to subscribe

    Roll over each section to subscribe using Add to My Yahoo! or RSS Feed feeds.

    Yahoo! News offers dozens of RSS feeds you can read in My Yahoo! or using third-party RSS news reader software. Click here to find out more about RSS and how you can use it with Yahoo! News.
     
    Recent Quotes
    Symbol Price Change % Chg 
    Your most recently viewed tickers will automatically show up here if you type a ticker in the "Enter symbol/company" at the bottom of this module.
    You need to enable your browser cookies to view your most recent quotes.
     
    Sign-in to view quotes in your portfolios.