Let’s play a little game called Disaster. Imagine an event that could trigger a genuine, knock ’em down, worldwide catastrophe. Think of Pearl Harbor, multiplied by 10, or even 100.
We’ll limit the options to man-made events, but eliminate traditional candidates like nuclear war or co-ordinated terrorist attacks. Climate change scientists might put their money on a massive greenhouse gas-induced drought that triggers uncontrollable emigration—entire countries emptying out, their citizens swelling the populations of Europe and North America. Doomsday economists, on the other hand, could raise the spectre of a global debt bomb: When industrial and emerging economies all exceed debt thresholds, a sovereign default by one country spreads like a firestorm, and triggers a global depression.
There’s no telling when, or if, the climate-change scenario could take place. Unfortunately, that’s not true of the second one. Debt bomblets have already exploded. And the big one—the Daisy Cutter—is being primed for action.
Greece is ground zero. Look at the damage the country inflicted on European debt, equity and currency markets this spring. How could a nation that accounts for less than 3% of the European Union’s gross domestic product (GDP) be so destructive?
There are two possible explanations. The first is that Greece’s fiscal problems belied its size. When Argentina, a country much wealthier than Greece, defaulted on its debt in 2001, the country’s annual budget deficit was the equivalent of 3% of its annual GDP. Its total accumulated public debt was 50% and its yearly international current-account deficit was 2%. And Greece? Its budget deficit last year was a whopping 13.6% of GDP, its public debt was 115% and its current-account deficit was 10%.
