The Curious Capitalist – TIME.com

Everything fixed now?

We're going to get the exact dollar totals Monday, but the Eurozone plan to backstop banks appears to be substantial. The German share alone is going to be 400 billion euros ($542 billion), it was reported Sunday.

The UK is also about to pour 39 billion pounds ($66 billion) into RBS, HBOS and Lloyds TSB. And we're still waiting to hear what exactly the U.S. Treasury has in mind--but that it will involve spending hundreds of billions of dollars and possibly guaranteeing more seems clear.

It's the kind of response that, if it had come a month ago, would have nipped all this end-of-the-financial-world talk in the bud. Of course, it couldn't have happened a month ago, because nobody was scared enough.

Is it enough now? Depends what you mean by enough. Enough to keep the cash coming out of your local ATM this week? You betcha. Enough to avert a global recession? No way. Enough to someday be seen as the beginning of the end of the Panic of 2008? My sense at the moment is yes. But it's not the kind of thing I'd want to put a lot of money on.


Feed Icon RSS Feed
AddThis Feed Button

Daily Email

Get The Curious Capitalist - TIME.com in your inbox and never miss a day:
 
Delivered by   FeedBurner

advertisement
About Curious Capitalist
Justin Fox

Justin Fox is TIME's business and economics columnist. This is his blog. Read more

Barbara Kiviat

Barbara Kiviat recently celebrated her 6-year anniversary covering business and economics for TIME magazine. Read more

The Curious Capitalist - TIME.com Archives

October 2008
Choose a day to view headlines.

< Previous Month
> Next Month

S M T W T F S
      1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31  
More TIME Blogs
  • Swampland
    A blog about politics by TIME's Joe Klein, Jay Newton-Small, Michael Scherer, Amy Sullivan, and Karen Tumulty.
  • The China Blog
    Daily detours through the world's fastest changing nation by TIME correspondents
  • Tuned In
    A blog about all things television from TIME's TV critic, James Poniewozik
  • Looking Around
    Reflections on art and architecture by TIME critic Richard Lacayo
  • The Middle East
    TIME correspondents blog about life in the hottest and holiest region in the world
  • Nerd World
    Geek culture blog by TIME's Lev Grossman and The Simpsons' Matt Selman
advertisement