Greece

A somewhat disingenuous comparison.

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Greece’s deficit crisis is
triggering a surge in the cost of insuring sovereign debt from
default on concern there could be a repeat of the turmoil that
followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
“If the market goes much more aggressively against Greece,
surely it’s only a matter of time before that happens to other
countries,” said Gary Jenkins, head of credit strategy at
Evolution Securities Ltd. in London. “The major concern is not
that Greece is the next Argentina, but could potentially be the
next Lehman.”
When Lehman was allowed to fail in September 2008 after
investors withdrew credit lines, the U.S. government had to step
in to prevent a systemic collapse as lending between Wall Street
banks froze. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet
said yesterday Greece won’t win any special treatment from
European officials as it seeks to reduce the shortfall from 12.7
percent of output in 2009 to less than 3 percent in 2012.
The cost of insuring against losses on sovereign debt
surged to a record high in Europe this week. The Markit iTraxx
SovX Western Europe Index of credit-default swaps on 15
countries from Greece to Germany rose 0.5 basis point to a
record 77.5, according to CMA DataVision prices at 1 p.m. in
London.