Europe is in constitutional crisis. No one seems to have the power to impose a sensible resolution of its peripheral countries' debt crisis. Instead of restructuring the manifestly unsustainable debt burdens of Portugal, Ireland and Greece (the PIGs), politicians and policymakers are pushing for ever-larger bailout packages with ever-less realistic austerity conditions.
Unfortunately, they are not just "kicking the can down the road," but pushing a snowball down a mountain. True, for the moment, the problem is still economically manageable. Eurozone growth is respectable, and the PIGs account for only 6 percent of the eurozone's GDP. But by stubbornly arguing that these countries are facing a liquidity crisis, rather than a solvency problem, euro officials are putting entire system at risk.
Major eurozone economies like Spain and Italy have huge debt problems of their own, especially given anemic growth and a manifest lack of competitiveness. The last thing they need is for people to be led to believe that an implicit transfer union is already in place, and that reform and economic restructuring can wait.
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