Global Financial Crisis. A scary weekend. Fortis, a Franco-Belgian bank, is at risk of collapse, saved at the last minute by the entry of three nations into its capital: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. (Fortisvale’s balance sheet is triple Belgium’s GDP). Germany must inject billions into Hypo Real Estate, Iceland nationalizes credit institutions to avoid bankruptcy. France, Luxembourg, and Belgium must join forces to save Dexia (a merger of savings banks), injecting €9 billion into its coffers. With certain American credit institutions labeled “too big to fail,” Europe is discovering something worse: “too big to be saved.”
