In graphics: Eurozone in crisis

[Treffie]

Click here for maps and more info.

One of the main causes of the currency crisis in the eurozone is that virtually all countries involved have breached their own self-imposed rules.

Under the convergence criteria adopted as part of economic and monetary union, government debt must not exceed 60% of GDP at the end of the fiscal year. Likewise, the annual government deficit must not exceed 3% of GDP. However, as the maps show, only two of the 16 eurozone countries - Luxembourg and Finland - have managed to stick to both rules.

Overall, Greece is the worst offender, with debt at 115.1% of GDP and a deficit of 13.6% of GDP. But among the bigger economies, Italy's debt is even higher than Greece's as a percentage of GDP, while Spain's deficit is 11.2% of GDP. If the UK were in the eurozone, it would also fall foul of the criteria, with its debt now standing at 68.1% of GDP and its deficit at 11.5% of GDP.

[Vulpix]

Euro-Area Countries Failed Fiscal Goals 57% of Time, Data Show

Bloomberg: May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Euro-area governments breached their own fiscal rules more than half of the time since they began trading the single currency, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.

With Greece’s debt crisis now exposing the weakness of fiscal oversight in the 16-nation economy, governments missed one or both of the European Union’s two budget requirements 57 percent of the time since they adopted the euro. Those rules limit debt to 60 percent of gross domestic product and budget deficits to 3 percent of GDP, as set out in the 1997 Stability and Growth Pact.

The pledge by countries to meet their fiscal rules turned out to be “rhetoric rather than reality” and contributed to the debt crisis, David Blanchflower, a Bloomberg News contributor and former Bank of England policy maker, said in an interview from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he teaches economics.

Of the economies that have been in the euro since it started trading in 1999, Belgium and Italy missed one or both of the targets in all 11 years. Greece failed in all nine years in which it used the euro. Finland and Luxembourg satisfied both goals every year. [...]

[Wölfin]

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Repeat daily.

[poiuytrewq0987]

Interestingly enough, Eastern economies are better off than Western Europe and Greece. The only country that is doing worse is Japan while it has a budget surplus of $131 billion however its debt is high, constituting 192% of Japanese GDP.

Russia

Russia's public debt is 6.8% of GDP (compared to Greece's 115% or Germany's 71%), and they have a budget surplus of $42 billion (compared to Greece's budget deficit of $34 billion or the USA's budget deficit of $310 billion).

China

China's public debt is 18.6% of GDP but it has a budget surplus of $296 billion (compared to Germany's budget surplus of $109 billion or Japan's budget surplus of $131 billion).

[Wölfin]

Interestingly enough, Eastern economies are better off than Western Europe and Greece. The only country that is doing worse is Japan while it has a budget surplus of $131 billion however its debt is high, constituting 192% of Japanese GDP.

Russia

Russia's public debt is 6.8% of GDP (compared to Greece's 115% or Germany's 71%), and they have a budget surplus of $42 billion (compared to Greece's budget deficit of $34 billion or the USA's budget deficit of $310 billion).

China

China's public debt is 18.6% of GDP but it has a budget surplus of $296 billion (compared to Germany's budget surplus of $109 billion or Japan's budget surplus of $131 billion).

I noticed that pattern in the East-Central European countries on the Eurozone maps as well.

[Breedingvariety]

There is no crisis. There is just a robbery going on.

It's not crisis if something broke is highlighted to be broke and then said to be fixed and then said to be broke and so on.

[Äike]

Breedingvariety has trolled several threads in the economics section without knowing anything about economics...

There would be no crisis if all the EU countries would be like the Nordic countries and Luxembourg. Only 5 countries could fulfill the Maastricht treaty policies in 2009, holding the budget deficit under 3%. Denmark -2.7%, Finland -2.2%, Estonia -1.7%, Luxembourg -0.7% and Sweden -0.5%.

The countries suffering the most, Greece for example, are to blame for the mess they created in their country.

I recommend reading about the European Economic Sustainability Index.

[Breedingvariety]

Breedingvariety has trolled several threads in the economics section without knowing anything about economics...

There would be no crisis if all the EU countries would be like the Nordic countries and Luxembourg. Only 5 countries could fulfill the Maastricht treaty policies in 2009, holding the budget deficit under 3%. Denmark -2.7%, Finland -2.2%, Estonia -1.7%, Luxembourg -0.7% and Sweden -0.5%.

The countries suffering the most, Greece for example, are to blame for the mess they created in their country.

I recommend reading about the European Economic Sustainability Index.

There should be no budget deficits. Budgets should be balanced. And not thanks to austerity measures- higher taxes, but thanks to spending cuts!

You really don't know nothing about economics. You might as well be economics professor. Like these fed ones:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed...ignore-those-w

Economics – Its All Lies!:
http://buygoldsilver.org/2010/01/econom ... -all-lies/

[Äike]

There should be no budget deficits. Budgets should be balanced. And not thanks to austerity measures- higher taxes, but thanks to spending cuts!

That's what they did here, spending cuts and a slight increase in taxes. The positive effects will be visible in a few years. For instance, the UK hasn't even started with the spending cuts yet. The new government has to bear the responsibility of balancing the budget.

[Breedingvariety]

That's what they did here, spending cuts and a slight increase in taxes. The positive effects will be visible in a few years. For instance, the UK hasn't even started with the spending cuts yet. The new government has to bear the responsibility of balancing the budget.

When they talk about austerity, their real objective is raising taxes. Spending reduction is secondary and is usually achieved by public sector workers wage reductions, rather then public sector functions reduction. And spending is cut where it harms masses, not where it harms elites.