I find it curious that the news conglomerates have seem to have all but forgotten about the European Debt Crisis (at least in the US, it's all about the Republican Caucuses). They were really concerned about it over a month ago, now they seem to have forgotten it.

Anyways, I've wondered about possible solutions to the Debt Crisis that won't completely collapse everyone involved. Then I thought about all the comments I was reading and how people weren't talking about how to solve it, so much. It seemed they were more focused on what went wrong and who was to blame.

So, I want to ask anybody who reads this: what do you think will solve the Debt Crisis? I have an idea but I'd like to read some of yours first because I get the feeling mine is a pretty retarded one. :P

Declare bankruptcy and sell themselves to China.

The news I watch talks about it everyday.

To be fair though... I pretty much only watch CNBC.  Nothing on between 4-8 Am on the West coast really.

As for "Solve" it depends on your definition of solve.

It's all a matter of forcing irresponsible countries to cap spending at +10% of revenue or so, while actually enforcing it and having regulators check out all the "budget tricks" countries use to hide how much they're really spending.

Ironiclly, europe essentially needs a "Balanced budget ammendment" like everyone was making fun people in the tea party for suggeting in the US.   Funny part is a lot of  Europian leaders agree.

Though while this DOES stop the crisis, it will likely put Europe in at least half a decade of recession and in generally puts the world closer to a "United States of Europe."

Anyone with a pretty decent knowledge of US history could of told you this was going to happen too.

http://www.thehollandbureau.com/2011/12/10/from-eurocrisis-to-united-states-of-europe/

While spending caps will be introduced in a new EU treaty next year, the seemingly perpetual recession such severe austerity would cause makes it no less likely that troubled states will be able to acquire credit from the markets at sustainable interest rates.

The European Central Bank being granted the power to operate as a 'lender of last resort' is the best solution on the table. Unfortunately Germany seems to be taking a strong stand against such a move, making it a political improbability.

Some things:
* Kill the Euro as the single uniformed currency of Europe.
* Allow nations with the debt to inflate their way out of their debt, or allow them to default.

Beyond this, there is a global crisis with debt at this point that needs to be resolved. I could argue about how debt-based currency is doomed to fail, for one thing.

Realistically, there is no "solution" to the debt crisis beyond getting all member countries to act responsibly and to stabilize the economy for long enough for it to correct itself. Of course, this is not the approach that politicians will want to take because it is far more politically popular to act in a way that makes things worse than to do nothing and let things correct themself.

The ECB already is a lender of last resort.

If you mean being a "Lender of Last Resort" to countries... that's a horrible idea.

All that would ensure is that there would be no incentive to actually cap your deficit spending, since the ECB will be there to bail you out anyway... and then either the countries who are responsible would either eventually get fed up and quit the union, have to impliment austeirty themselves to cover the deficit spending countries or outright Europe collapses.

The ECB as a lender of last resort doesn't solve the euro crisis, it strenghens it and just kicks the can down the road abit.

Outside which, proper caps would prevent them from aquiring such credit.  Since money gained from bonds should not count towards Revenue.

As for "Perpetual recession".  It wouldn't be perpetual, though it would occur until their markets shrink back to their "real" fair market value.

It's the best option out there.

The other two lead to massive collapses that take longer to recover from.

Elect Libertarian presidents?

Seriously the only solution is to cut spending and suffer through austerity until some of the debt is paid off and budgets are balanced.

And kill the value of everyone's savings? Ouch that would make things worse for people, not better. 

As a person who's seen this first-hand, the recent austerity and cap-spending measures are NOT the way to go. Whilst already in a recession, measures like these seriously tear the economy apart. Countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and now Italy (seriously they're now the greatest problem by far) simply cannot pay up longterm and will eventually drown in debt.

The European Central Bank should print some money and bail out. I don't get it why Germany resists to this so much; I'm sure a little inflation and especially a weaker Euro should be better for them.