The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.
-Winston Churchill, 1936
My piece from the NY Times is out. My conclusion was “European policy makers need to wake up. Unless European governments quickly agree to the kind of fiscal integration that gives the European Central Bank political cover to backstop the debt of euro zone national governments, which euro area banks use as collateral, European bank failures will begin in earnest and another Great Depression will be upon us. Olli Rehn, the European Union commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, is right, we probably have days, not weeks.”
Check out the whole thing here. Mark Thoma, Dean Baker and Arnold Kling also give their views on the sovereign debt crisis and yesterday’s central bank liquidity action.
Source: The Churchill Society, London (hat tip Tinman)