European debt crisis Q & A

Questions and answers about Europe's debt crisis

Why Europe's debt crisis and the IMF chief's resignation matter to the US

 

Matthew Craft, AP Business Writer, On Friday May 20, 2011, 12:17 pm

NEW YORK (AP) -- The arrest and resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, chief of the International Monetary Fund, has put the debt troubles in Europe back in the news.
The U.S economy has its own woes: stubbornly high unemployment, sluggish growth and $14 trillion in government debt. And that's just the short list. So why should you care about what's happening in Athens, Berlin or Brussels?
Because markets are global and the economies of Europe and the U.S. are intertwined through trade and multinational company interests. Just the rumor that Greece, which is in danger of defaulting on its debt to lenders, might drop the euro as its currency sent U.S. bond yields to lows for the year.
Here are answers to some questions about why Europe's troubles matter to the U.S.:
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