Policy wonks like comprehensive solutions. They look at the problem, look at the solution, and see if the two will fit. If not, they reject the solution as insufficient. And this solution, as most any wonk, myself included, will tell you, is not sufficient.

What policy wonks don’t like to do is muddle along. But muddling along is, for the most part, how problems get solved. Particularly in Europe. Europe has been muddling along for years now, and this plan, if all goes well, buys them a few more years of muddling. And perhaps, by then, the global recovery will be stronger than we had thought, or the rest of Europe will be in a stronger position to help push Greece over the finish line. Or perhaps, a few years from now, Europe will just figure out a way to muddle along for a little while more.

What we all keep waiting for in the euro-zone crisis is a solution. Instead, doomsday just keeps getting delayed. Some would say you can’t put off a reckoning like this forever. But perhaps you can. Europe, at any rate, is certainly going to try.

(Source: Washington Post)