Money Talks | 09.10.2008 | 00:30
Financial Crisis Hits Germany: What Should be Done?
Germany’s first bank to feel the crunch has already called for mercy. But is this just a stopgap and what needs to be done to really fix the problem?
Stock markets around the world plunged Monday as investors worried that government bail-outs for sick banks were failing to cure a crisis that threatens to infect global trade and industry too. Last week Hypo Real Estate, the first major German financial institution to be hit by the worldwide crisis, called for mercy and asked the government to save it from collapse.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government originally came up with a 35 billion euro plan to pull the mortgage giant out of a tailspin. That plan, however, came into troubles of it’s own, and had to be modified. 15 billion euros were added and insurance on savings and checking accounts within Germany are to be raised. Money Talks speaks with Helge Berger, professor of economics and monetary theory at the Free University in Berlin.
Interview: Mark Mattox / Helge Berger
