Word: euros
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...parts of Europe, things are looking even worse. Shares on the Greek stock market have fallen 9% over the past two days. The parlous state of Greece's public finances has prompted credit-rating agency Fitch to lower the country's debt rating to BBB+, the lowest in the euro zone, Europe's single-currency region. Further blows could follow: rival agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's have threatened similar moves in recent days. (See 10 things to do in Athens...
...Nowhere more so than Greece. Years of debt-fueled consumption and lax fiscal policies have left the country drowning in red ink. National debt is expected to rise to 125% of GDP in 2010, the highest in the euro zone. "If you want an example of a political élite that thought membership of the euro zone was a panacea," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London, "you don't need to look further than Greece. They're in very serious trouble." (See pictures of the global economic crisis...
...Getting out of it won't be easy. Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the euro zone's 16 countries, urged the country on Monday, Dec. 7, to take "courageous" steps to tackle the crisis. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, part of the socialist government that won power in the country last October, duly pledged to do "whatever is required" to shore up the country's finances. Key to the recovery plan: slashing Greece's budget deficit next year from 12.7% - more than four times the level allowed under E.U. rules...
...deep spending cuts the country needs to rebalance its books. What's more, reviving growth will mean shifting from an economy founded on domestic consumption to one driven by exports. "That's going to be extremely difficult, given that [the Greeks have] allowed their cost competitiveness within the euro zone to erode massively," says Tilford. "We're still seeing big increases in Greece's wages." (See the top 10 worst business deals...
...dollars to the financial crisis of 2007 and '08 and a future of rampant inflation that hasn't materialized yet but that many doomsayers are convinced is on the way. And while there's been talk of the dollar being supplanted as the world's reserve currency by the euro or the Chinese yuan, that would still leave a monetary system dependent on the whims of one central bank...