Another version, hardly heard in the early days but far more credible today, is that the crisis is the result of Germanys irresponsibility. Germany, the fourth-largest economy in the world, exports the equivalent of about 50 percent of its gross domestic product because German consumers cannot support its oversized industrial output. The result is that Germany survives on an export surge. For Germany, the European Union — with its free-trade zone, the euro and regulations in Brussels — is a means for maintaining exports. The loans German banks made to countries such as Greece after 2009 were designed to maintain demand for its exports. The Germans knew the debts could not be repaid, but they wanted to kick the can down the road and avoid dealing with the fact that their export addiction could not be maintained. Read more: The New Drivers of Europes Geopolitics | Stratfor Follow us: @stratfor on Twitter | Stratfor on Facebook
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 08:05:24 +0000
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