CNBC’s Caruso-Cabrera Blames Govt Spending for Europe’s Economic Problems
CNBC's Caruso-Cabrera Blames Govt Spending for Europe's Economic Problems Appearing on Monday's NBC Nightly News, CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera blamed decades of overspending by European governments and borrowing to help provide promised benefits for the continent's current economic problems. Caruso-Cabrera: MICHELLE CARUSO-CARBRERA: Well, the general concern, Kate, is that a lot of governments in Europe for many decades now have borrowed a lot of money in order to give very generous benefits to their workers and their retirees. They thought that they would grow enough to generate enough revenue to pay back those debts. That hasn't happened. The CNBC correspondent – known for her libertarian economic views – went on blame the day's stock market drop in Europe on Italy's refusal to cut its own government spending in spite of promising to do so in exchange for receiving outside assistance in dealing with its national debt: Europe's central banks stepped in and said we will help you, Italy, we will help you keep your interest rates low, but you've got to promise to make changes like balancing your budget, reducing the size of your government, which is very bloated, passing a balanced budget amendment. So far Italy has failed to do all those things despite getting the help, and over the weekend leaders of the European central bank made very clear they're unhappy with Italy. Below is a complete transcript of the segment from the Monday, September 5, NBC Nightly News : KATE SNOW: Wall Street was closed on this Labor Day holiday, but other financial markets around the world took a beating today. Worries about the economy here at home with that job number on Friday saying job growth flat-lined and fresh anxiety about a possible debt disaster in Europe smashed stocks there. Germany's main stock index fell 5.3 percent,
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on September 5, 2011. Filed under