13 Trillion includes debt owed by the government to itself, as various government entities own Treasury debt, most significantly the Federal reserve. I believe net debt is approx. 70% of GDP or around 9.5 Trillion.
They are actually not trying to defend the euro currency directly, how would you defend a currency by printing more of it? IF they wanted to support the exchange rate of the euro they would have to sell dollars from their reserves and buy euros on the open market.
No, what they are trying to...
I posted this on another thread, but I'll repost it here too:
The EURO didn't move much, however the the sovereign yield spreads on the peripheral eurogroup countries (PIGS) have fallen DRAMATICALLY.
It makes sense if you think about it, the eurogroup is shifting the burden from the...
The EURO didn't move much, however the the sovereign yield spreads on the peripheral eurogroup countries (PIGS) have fallen DRAMATICALLY.
It makes sense if you think about it, the eurogroup is shifting the burden from the PIGS to everybody else, basically spreading out the pain. So net-net...
Remember the euro doesn't have the benifit of the yuan peg that the dollar has. They may think they can do open market operations to support gov bonds, but the pressure will then relieve itself through a weaker euro.
The system is broken, and all these politicians deep down know it. You can see it in the frustration in those senate hearings, they just don't really know what to do.
The problem is there is no real alternative solution, either you bail them out now or you let the system crash down in flames...
I haven't read this thread through but the Eurogroup is not planing to defend the Euro directly in the fx market, that would be impossible for any entity other than the ECB. They are preparing a stabilization type fund, probably to buy bonds of countries in trouble.