By Allison Landa, News Editor<\/p>\n
The story sounds familiar: a major entity unable to service its debt and in need of help. Only this time it\u2019s not Lehman Bros.; it\u2019s Greece. When Lehman went down, with it went major financial institutions such as AIG, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch. Should Greece fail, it has the potential to take with it Portugal, Ireland and Spain \u2013 not to mention threatening the entire system of the euro.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is damn complicated,\u201d former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel said earlier this week while addressing an audience at DLA Piper\u2019s Global Real Estate Summit 2010. \u201cYou have to think through consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European Union has approved a 110-billion euro ($141 billion) bailout to save Greece from bankruptcy. However, investors reacted poorly to the three-year loan package, with the euro falling and Greek bond yields only slightly improving after the news was announced. The European parliaments must now decide whether to okay the bailout. Germany, responsible for the largest share of the bailout, is expected to vote on Friday.<\/p>\n
In the wake of this financial crisis, shadows of doubt are spreading across not only Europe but the world. Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.2 percent on Wednesday, while indexes in South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong also experienced drops. Australia\u2019s benchmark was also down 1.7 percent.<\/p>\n
So will the bailout be adequate to keep Greece\u2019s problems from bleeding across its borders? Hagel has his doubts.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to question whether Greece can be saved this way \u2013 or are we just putting 110 billion euros on the table for what? Are we just postponing the day of inevitability?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhether it works or not, I don\u2019t know. \u2026 We\u2019re going to be paying the high price.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, he believes the country will pull through.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreece is going to survive \u2013 it\u2019s been around a while,\u201d he said to audience laughter. \u201cThere\u2019ll be some significant adjustments that we\u2019re all going to be dealing with these days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The story sounds familiar: a major entity unable to service its debt and in need of help. Only this time it\u2019s not Lehman Bros.; it\u2019s Greece. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":936,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37301],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004019917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n