German Temper Tantrums Reduce Risk of Euro Breakup: Davos Diary

Greece and Ireland will default and at least one nation will abandon the euro by 2016, according to the majority of respondents in a Bloomberg Global Poll this week. I would have agreed last year; now, German anger is starting to persuade me my money might be safe in Greek debt.

When people get mad, it’s typically due to fear. Working out what’s scaring someone explains tantrums. German participants at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, are getting grumpier by the day, and I reckon I know why: They’ve realized they have to shift from doing the bare minimum to bankroll their near-bankrupt euro neighbors to spending whatever it takes. And they’re afraid of telling their taxpayers.