PIIGS

The Eurozone has some countries that are in deep financial trouble. They are Portugaul, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain (PIIGS). The problem with those countries is that they had access to lots of borrowed money and squandered much of it away in reckless spending.

Other more fiscally responsible countries such as Germany and Austria are doing well financially. The problem is that they are all intertwined with the Euro. So if one country weakens the Euro, they all become affected.

But, if you think the PIIGS are bad. The United States is even worse in some areas. For example, the US has an annual budget deficit of 1.5 Trillion dollars. That is 9.8% of US GDP. By contrast, the PIIGS average deficit as a percentage of GDP is 7.5%.