EU a Preview of US Debt Crisis?
The news stories right now seem to be exclusively about the horse-race aspect of the presidential campaign, admittedly the easier thing to focus on, especially with post-debate polling indicating that the race is now a dead heat. Just as important, the polls that comprise the average now differ on which candidate is leading, whereas pre-debate polls might have differed on the size of the margin, but all agreed that President Obama was in the lead.
It’s anybody’s race at this point, but a seemingly small event abroad serves as a reminder of what awaits the next president. Spain is another country that was cavalier about its rising national debt. Now Spain is under supervision by the European Community, and it’s the finance ministers of the EU that are gathering to decide what to do about the ongoing efforts to keep the government in Madrid stable.
The debate is whether the EU should be offering more financial assistance or allow Spain to manage its own affairs. Similar problems exist in Greece, where the government has to deny rumors that Athens is leaving the eurozone.
The restrictions on the Spanish government await the United States if the national debt is not addressed.
Our situation in the United States isn’t directly analogous, since we aren’t in a formal alliance of governments like the nations of Europe, but the debt crisis is no less severe.
