Who to blame for crisis of leadership

"Merkel, together with the German economic establishment, is responsible for the European debt crisis deepening to the point where the euro could fall apart," said Simon Tilford, chief economist with the London-based think-tank, the Centre for European Reform.The main reason for this, according to Tilford, is their dogged insistence that fiscal ill-discipline and poor competitiveness are at the heart of the European debt crisis. Their refusal to back down from that argument has made it impossible for German and other European leaders to resolve the debacle. "The debt crisis is largely a result of the huge capital flows from some eurozone countries to others … To believe (as the Germans do) that we can slash public spending and all rely on boosting exports to drive economic growth and resolve the debt crisis is mercantilist."