The Spanish banking system is crumbling. While 10-year Treasuries yield 1.62%, Spain’s 10—year bonds yield 6.61%, near the all-time of 6.78% set 11/25/11. If yields stay this high, Spain will need a bail-out. Problem is, as the world’s 13th largest economy, with a $1.4 trillion GDP, it’s too big to bail out. Yet, things will continue to deteriorate as the deepening real estate bust will weaken investor confidence further.
Tag Archives: Too Big to Bail Out
Icelandic Luck
The gov’t of Iceland wasn’t smart. It just couldn’t afford to bail out its banks, so they failed and foreign creditors including the UK and the Netherlands got badly burned, to the tune of $6 billion. While Iceland has suffered, their economic performance has been fabulous compared to Greece, Ireland or Portugal. The lesson, bailing out investors can kill your economy.