The ongoing financial instability in Greece illustrates the kind of quicksand you can step into if you’re contemplating any kind of European investment. Despite eurozone finance ministers’ attempts at putting Greece on a sustainable track, creditors have had to accept large losses. Private sector bondholders have taken a more than 70 percent hit on their holdings in Greece, and while the country has so far averted a catastrophic default, the future is all but certain.
The Greek debt crisis is the latest in the so-called PIIGS nations (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) that have been among those hit hardest by the global recession. Pundits have suggested Greece should simply be cast adrift from the eurozone and that any new bailout funds should instead go to Portugal, which has continued to struggle with debt despite its own bailout last year from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Only nine European countries — Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. — currently hold perfect debt ratings from all three major rating agencies after Standard & Poor’s downgraded France and Austria in January.
So, with so much financial shakiness in Europe, should U.S.
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