European Central Bank Scrambles As Eurozone Debt Crisis Rages
ECB President Mario Draghi, it is rumored, will cut interest rates, in a frantic effort to retard the rampaging Eurozone Debt Crisis. Since assuming the ECB presidency, Draghi has engaged in stealth quantitative easing, buying up sovereign bonds, and engaging in other monetary gimmicks. But nothing seems to be working. With ECB rates already very low, there is not much left to be cut.
The schism is over supposed austerity measures in the vulnerable Eurozone countries with large sovereign debts neutralizing any impact from ECB monetary policies. However, the real issue involves the bond markets; will they open up their coffers and offer more loans to countries that already have an unsustainable debt to GDP ratio? In the Eurozone, both economic /fiscal and monetary policies are totally detached from the harsh realities of the marketplace.
