Global Financial Meltdown Possible in 2 to 3 Weeks: IMF Advisor Shapiro

When asked what would happen if European political leaders could not come up with an effective plan to address the eurozone debt crisis, International Monetary Fund advisor Robert Shapiro said Friday that there would be a global financial meltdown within “two to three weeks.”

Speaking in a BBC interview posted at ZeroHedge, Shapiro said that the problem was not confined to a relatively small Belgian bank (apparently referring to Dexia, whose fate is currently being determined due to its massive exposure to peripheral eurozone debt).

Instead, he said, “we are talking about the largest banks in the world, the largest banks in Germany, the largest banks in France. That will spread to the United Kingdom, in part through sovereign debt problems in Ireland. It will spread everywhere because the global financial system is so interconnected. All those banks are counterparties to every significant bank in the United States, and in Britain, and in Japan, and around the world.”