The Economist on Greece

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2012/01/the-economist-on-greece

The Economist has a "leader" — British for a leading article, or what Americans call editorials — on Greece:

What is the best way out of this mess? Step one is to force private bondholders to take more losses. They have been treated with kid gloves so far because European governments insist the debt deal must be voluntary, thanks in part to a misplaced fear of triggering credit-default swaps. That must change. Discard the veneer of voluntarism and Greece can be tougher on its creditors. It should pass a law that retroactively introduces collective-action clauses into all domestic-debt contracts (making it easier to impose debt deals on recalcitrant bondholders). If it does this now there is still, just, enough time to organise a big, coercive, but orderly, restructuring of Greek bonds by March 20th.

Maybe after that retroactive law is passed, some other countries can pass laws retroactively introducing clauses into the Economist's contracts with its advertisers, employees, vendors, and subscribers that change the terms of those contracts. Let's see how the leader-writers at the Economist would like that. Preferably on a voluntary basis, but if not then on a coerced basis, the leader-writers should all go listen to the Russ Roberts-Richard Epstein podcast on the rule of law: "In effect, we don't allow for retroactive laws...."

by Editor  |  Jan 28, 2012 at 3:22 pm Related Topics:  Europe, Press receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list