No, Annie is dead on. The US did not create the problem for Europeans, they did themselves. Western European banks took dominant roles in lending in Eastern Europe. They began to give mortgages and other loans at low interest as long as it was dominated by euros, swiss francs and yen. This worked out well until the Polish zloty alnd the Hungarian forint fell in value, and Italian, Austrian and Swedish banks suffered the defaults.
BTW, all the talk about how Europe hated Bush and his policies, did you notice Blair remaining in power during the Bush years, the French dumping Chirac for a pro-American, and Schroeder replaced by the more pro-American Merkel. Explain?
No the lending to the eastern european Nations is not the key issue, that lending would have been possible if the liquidity in the market hadn't changed. The problem with the europeans is that european banks were as much unregulated as the american banks (altough this will not be acknowledged by many europeans, they re so glad they can use the US as a scapegoat
), many european banks have the same toxic assets that the american banks have because they started acting more and more like american banks. One of the best examples of this is the Belgian bank "Fortis".
Ask any french guy if they elected Sarkozy because he was pro-american, you ll soon know that your statement is irrelevant. If anything, their election was despite being more pro-american than their predecessors. The world doesn't revolve around the US, you ll notice that if you travel some more around the world. In europe people don't elect people because they are pro- or anti- american, it is the same about the US: americans don't elect people because they are pro-european (this time it was just coincidence that it was a pro-european candidate, the same could be said about european elections).
Your argument falls apart when you tell me to "Ask any french guy..." Politicians use arguments that they feel will win with the public. Chirac and Schroeder, who you chose not to mention- or should I "ask any German guy..." both made it clear how they felt about President Bush, and they lost.
"The world doesn't revolve around the US, you ll notice that if you travel some more around the world."
You don't know where I've traveled, do you? And the world does revolve around the US, which is 30% of the world economy, and has always taken the leading roll in protecting, aiding and liberating others. Does that bother you Europeans?
Why do I have the sense that you have carved out the "i am the european expert" niche, and will brook no questioning thereof? Well, you will find that Americans, other than liberals, don't brook being talked down to. Get it?
Be advised, Stratfor, second only to the CIA in global intelligence for the public, takes the opposite view that you do:
"Paralleling this is the issue of how to deal with the Central European financial crisis. Toxic U.S. assets did not create this problem, internal European practices did. Western European banks took dominant positions in Eastern Europe in the past decade. They began to offer mortgages and other loans at low interest rates denominated in euros, Swiss francs and yen. This was an outstanding deal unless the Polish zloty and the Hungarian forint were to plunge in value, which they have over the past six months. Loan payments soared, massive defaults happened, and Italian, Austrian and Swedish banks were left holding the bag."
STRATFOR - Geopolitical intelligence, economic, political, and military strategic forecasting | STRATFOR
