Buffett Rule, Tax Reform Law, Greek Debt Crisis, Health Care Plan, Cap and Trade, Dodd-Frank (2012)

thefilmarchive.org February 21, 2012 The Greek government-debt crisis is one of a number of current European sovereign-debt crises. Beginning in late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning Greece's ability to meet its debt obligations due to strong increase in government debt levels.[1][2][3] This led to a crisis of confidence, indicated by a widening of bond yield spreads and the cost of risk insurance on credit default swaps compared to the other countries in the eurozone, most importantly Germany.[4][5] The downgrading of Greek government debt to junk bond status in April 2010 created alarm in financial markets. On 2 May 2010, the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed on a €110 billion bailout loan for Greece, conditional on the implementation of austerity measures. In October 2011, Eurozone leaders agreed to offer a second €130 billion bailout loan for Greece, conditional not only the implementation of another austerity package, but also that all private creditors holding Greek government bonds should sign a deal accepting a 53.5% facevalue loss. This proposed restructure of all Greek public debt held by private creditors, which constituted a 58% share of the total Greek public debt, would according to the bailout plan reduce the overall public debt burden with roughly €110 billion. A debt relief equal to a lowering of the debt-to-GDP ratio from a forecasted 198% in 2012 down to roughly 160% in 2012 ...