IMF Bazooka Is Between Meaningless and Dangerous: Simon Johnson
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Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Financial rescue plans for Europeare becoming ever more fanciful. Increasingly, policy analystsin Europe and the U.S. turn to the International Monetary Fundto provide what is termed “the bazooka” -- meaning a lot ofmoney underpinning a scaled-up bailout for Italy, other troubledcountries and, of course, Europe’s failing banks.
This proposal is somewhere between meaningless anddangerous, depending on its precise form. The good news is thatit will not happen. The bad news is that no one is prepared forthe real consequences of the bazooka proving to be illusory.