Germany Brushes Off Warning Over Rating.
Europe is sleepwalking toward a disaster of incalculable proportions, the Institute for New Economic Thinking, a group of prominent economists funded largely by the billionaire financier George Soros, wrote in a new report .
The report urged countries with stronger economies, like Germany, to accept greater short-term burden sharing for the good of all. Absent this collective constructive response, the euro will disintegrate, the group wrote.
In issuing a negative outlook for Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg late Monday, Moodys Investors Service cited what it said was an increased risk that those triple-A countries will have to bear the cost of propping up Spain and possibly even Italy.
Moodys also pointed to what it said was a greater danger that Greece will leave the euro and set off a chain of financial-sector shocks and associated liquidity pressures for sovereigns and banks that policymakers could only contain at a very high cost.
In response, the German Finance Ministry said the short-term risks were not new and emphasized the country;s determination to keep its own fiscal house in order
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/business/global/daily-euro-zone-watch.html?_r=1&hp