Do you feel shocked and awed? Well do you, punk?

So, the question of the day is, will bond markets feel suitably shocked and awed by the eurozone’s decision to throw more than $950 billion at the Greece problem in order to prevent the spread of contagion?  For some reason, I can’t get this scene from Dirty Harry out of my head when I think ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

So, the question of the day is, will bond markets feel suitably shocked and awed by the eurozone's decision to throw more than $950 billion at the Greece problem in order to prevent the spread of contagion? 

So, the question of the day is, will bond markets feel suitably shocked and awed by the eurozone’s decision to throw more than $950 billion at the Greece problem in order to prevent the spread of contagion? 

For some reason, I can’t get this scene from Dirty Harry out of my head when I think about the answer.  To paraphrase it for our purposes, wouldn’t this whole drama be easier if some eurozone finance minister could confront bond traders with the following speech: 

I know what you’re thinking.  Is this my last rescue package, or do I have another source of credit in reserve?  Well, to tell the truth, in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself.  But being this is a €720bn rescue package, the most powerful one in the world, and would wipe away any short position you’ve taken in the past week, you’ve got to ask yourself one question. ‘Do I feel lucky?’  Well do you, punk?" 

The thing is, Dirty Harry is a lot more convincing than Angela Merkel. 

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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