Yglesias: The Euro Mess Could Imperil the U.S.

As the Federal Reserve joins global central banks in a collective action against the looming euro meltdown, Slate's Matt Yglesias explains why it's so crucial that the U.S. participate: non-American banks hold nearly 50 percent of the U.S. dollars in the world, and a European crash might suddenly make them unavailable to American borrowers. "You never want the people in charge to actually set off a panic by speaking too soon about hypothetical calamities, but we’d all better hope that somewhere in the basement of the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve they’re prepping a Plan B to keep money flowing even if European finance dries up."