Some [...] see immediate potential for a radical and socially just anticapitalism in the disintegration of the euro and the fall of the Torquemadas of neoliberal austerity
As long as they were earning higher interest on the money loaned than they were paying on the money borrowed, it worked. But when the market went through turmoil, and the short term looked riskier than the long term, the yield curve "inverted"
footnote 80. on why Spanish banks failed
"Basis point" is the finance term for 1/100th of a percent
The southern nation-states (the so-called "PIIGS": Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) have private financial institutions no more stupid or myopic than banks in Germany or France
the reason they were affected more is because their systems were less robust
the payments are amortized over forty years, to keep them low, but are scheduled on a thirty-year payback, meaning the homeowner had to have 120 months of cash at the end of the mortgage to cover the remaining debt (a so-called "balloon" payment)
on the subprime mortgage crisis
