Back to previous page  Post Most  Europe vs. the ECB: A high-
stakes game of chicken  By ,  Efforts to resolve Europe’s debt
crisis are, at their core, an exceptionally high-stakes game of
chicken, pitting the continent’s central bank against its
national governments. Hanging in the balance: the entire world
economy.  If an economic calamity is to be avoided, some Europe-
wide entity probably will need to funnel money to Greece and
other troubled nations and jointly guarantee the debts of the
continent’s governments in a we’re-all-in-this-together show of
solidarity. The great debate in Europe right now is over what
entity will be stuck holding the bag.  The European Central
Bank, the Frankfurt-based equivalent of the Federal Reserve in
the United States, has the authority to print euros, can make
cash available to banks and is led by a small board of highly
trained financial experts who can make decisions on a moment’s
notice.  In other words, the ECB has the tools and ability to
take the kind of dramatic acti