Quote Originally Posted by Beskar View Post
Hey Furunculus, this might be a stupid question.. but why don't they cancel eachothers debts with eachother, for example:

Spain owes Ireland $30, Ireland owes Spain $16, why don't they just make it so Spain owes Ireland $14?

As for the "Greek Bailout" why don't Germany+France+Britain just put an extension on their loan or similar or a temporary pause or at a reduced rate? Then there would be no need for the bail-out at all, or since the bail-out is basically giving Greece free money, why not just cancel part of the debt they owe instead?


All-in-all, why are they making it far more complicated then it needs to be?
because it is mostly private debt, so each respective treasury would not only have to do a debt swap, they would also have to pay-out the private equity in their country that lent the money in the first place, and i can well imagine that the larger creditor would be unwilling to transfer the additional risk inside their own economy, when really it belongs outside with the original debtor country.