Since then, many things have taken a turn for the better in a very short period of time, and we have to give credit to the Greek prime minister, to the Greek government and really to the Greek people for that. As you know, we have an important challenge ahead of us, namely the recapitalisation of the banks.
Deflationary episodes are rare, and generalization about them is difficult. Indeed, a recent Federal Reserve study of the Japanese experience concluded that the deflation there was almost entirely unexpected, by both foreign and Japanese observers alike (Ahearne et al., 2002). So, having said that deflation in the United States is highly unlikely, I would be imprudent to rule out the possibility altogether.