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Governments have collapsed and bailouts have run into the hundreds of billions of euros, and still the eurozone crisis builds. How did we get here?
Deficit spending as a percentage of GDP
Deficit spending occurs when a country spends more than it generates in revenue. The maximum deficit spending allowed by the EU is 3 percent of GDP. As shown here, countries sometimes approached zero, or even spent less than they took in, but none of them are breaking even in 2011. Deficit spending has declined with the implementation of strict austerity programs across the EU.
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