Today, the imminent crisis is in Europe, where the European Central Bank seems to be putting its own balance sheet and those of European banks – loaded with debt from Ireland, Greece, and Portugal – above the well-being of these countries’ citizens. This debt almost surely needs to be restructured, but, having allowed the banks to leverage themselves beyond any level of prudence and load up on toxic derivatives, the ECB is now warning against any sort of restructuring or write-down.
如今危机也正不断逼近欧洲：欧洲央行似乎要将自身以及其他欧洲国家央行的资产负债表盈亏——上面满是爱尔兰，希腊和葡萄牙的债务——凌驾于这些国家民众的福祉之上。这些债务几乎肯定要被重组，但在放任这些银行盲目使用高杠杆并积累大量有毒金融衍生品之后，欧中央行现在对任何形式的债务重组和减记都开始持反对态度。