Is Germany Responsible for the Euro Crisis?

May 9, 2010: Euro zone countries establish a line of credit to buy the bonds of struggling members

Not long ago, two giant hands appeared on a billboard the size of a building outside of Berlin’s main train station. They are placed together in thoughtful distraction, fingertip to fingertip. “Germany’s future in good hands,” the billboard reads. No German will wonder who the hands belong to. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, is so trusted and familiar to the voters who will likely reelect her this month that she can be summoned with only a gesture.