The EU’s own newly issued debt would have a credit rating equivalent to the best sovereigns in the world.41 Potentially, Crédit Agricole gushed, the Europeans were about to create a “massive new pool of high-quality, euro-denominated bonds . . . that could be used by foreign investors to diversify away from [U.S.] Treasuries and the dollar.” This was the authentic voice of the people who managed the really big pools of global money. Far from being a dangerous and regrettable liability, good quality public debt was indispensable fuel for private finance.
