Greece’s economic troubles have sparked concern among the rest of the world, especially here in the U.S. Their huge debt, and inability to meet their debt payments has many European countries scrambling to help, since they have such strong financial ties to Greece.
In a new article on CNN Money titled “How the U.S. can avoid the Greek problem,” author Jeanne Sahadi urges the U.S. government to create a financial commission such as the bipartisan panel President Obama suggested to tackle the nation’s long term debt problems. Check out a snippet of Sahadi’s opinion piece below.
The delay in getting the commission up and running is due in great part to partisan jockeying from both sides of the aisle and continued uncertainty about whether current Republican lawmakers will agree to take part.
There's no guarantee that when it does materialize it will have the respect of many in Congress, which would have the final word on the commission's recommendations.
And the call for the commission has taken on greater urgency in light of the recent global volatility caused by the sovereign debt crisis in Greece, which threatens all of Europe.
"You need a fiscal commission. You need it now," Simon Johnson, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told lawmakers this week.
The commission will be asked to figure out ways to get annual deficits down to 3% of gross domestic product by 2015 and thereafter put the country on a more sustainable fiscal track.