peter morici is a professor at the maryland school of business. peter, this eurozone debt problem.y transfer thatovthat over to the american situation. but they have their own problems there in europe. can they threaten a u.s. recovery? >> absolutely. banks hold a great deal of the portugal, greece, whaetever, debt. they can handle a greek restructuring. the greek saying they're only going to pay back 60 cents on the dollar. but if it spreads to other countries, the viability of those banks become threatened, and the europeans don't have the kind of institutions that we have to back up their banks. the federal reserve -- >> why? why can't european central bank not do what the fed would do in that situation? >> well, the fed could essentially use the bond-selling capacity of the treasury to recapitalize our bank. the european union can't tax, so it can't issue euro bonds. it doesn't have the ability to back up the banks quite the way -- see, the fed doesn't act alone. the fed acts in concert with the treasury. >> hold onto that thought for a second. christine romans joins me right n