Europe Solves the Debt Problem

Last month, European leaders agreed to a new limit of structural deficit at 0.5% of GDP and reaffirmed the total debt burden limit at 60% of GDP. As the WSJ article explains - especially telling is the Target Practice graph, only Estonia, Luxembourg and Finland currently meet the criteria, the rest of the European countries would need a hundred years and a miracle to get there. France's deficit is at 5.5% and debt at 85% GDP; Italy's at 3.4% and 120%, Germany's at 1.4% and 82%. The only thing spoiling my Schadenfreude is that Illinois, California and New Jersey are in as much trouble as southern Europeans and the Feds are pushing our debt into the 80-90% range.
Let us do a rough calculation. Greece has €350 billion in debt. At 10%, that means €35 billion in annual interest payments. Total government revenues are €32 billion (expenditures €45 billion). So if you shut down the country completely, you don't have enough money to pay interest for one year. Europeans claimed that default was out of the question....