If you look at the dynamic of the crisis to date you see the following flow (broadly but not exactly)
1. Sub-prime mortgages in the USA started to go under 2. Interbank lending froze as banks liabilities were unknown & collateral was of unknown quality 3. Interbank rates shot up 4. The crisis was not contained, culminating in the fall of Lehman which triggered a series of world events the most substantial aspect of which was a loss in confidence. 5. Markets fell rates were dropped to record lows in the EU, USA and Britain. 6. Recovery began with several bailouts in the majority of nations affected.
and then….
7. This is critical – bank and private debt effectively became public debt, in Ireland’s example this was via our banks, in other countries it was in the same manner or via quantitative easing. Across Europe the ECB was a key facilitator of liquidity.
The debt has now, in many countries become a public debt issue, in Europe specifically it is a Sovereign debt issue, the like of which the US …