A deal may have arrived early, but it was lightweight, too. That largely reflected the wishes of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who is hemmed in by antipathy among taxpayers back home to propping up profligate Greeks and others. The effective lending capacity of the European rescue funds will be bumped up to meet its original goal of €500 billion ($695 billion) through higher guarantees and injections of capital, though the precise mix and timing have yet to be spelt out. But the main fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), will not be allowed to intervene in secondary government-debt markets, a job being undertaken reluctantly by the European Central Bank.
— “The Euro-Debt Crisis: Muddle, Fuddle, Toil and Trouble”
