Employing a seasonal metaphor for the basis of his CNNMoney column, PIMCO head Mohamed El-Erian compares the situation in Europe to that of an unstable hammock in an effort to explain what has, and most likely will, happen.
"I don't know about you but, the very few times I have tried, I have found it very hard to lie down properly on a hammock," El-Erian wrote on Monday. "Moreover, my latest attempts to do so this summer became the source of endless laughs. Here is what I learned … rather painfully."
1. The starting point is critical. Unless you position yourself skillfully at the very outset, it is extremely difficult to secure a stable and sustainable outcome thereafter.
2. If you fail in the initial positioning—which I did, repeatedly—the construct of the hammock limits the prospects for adjustments on the fly.
3. Marginal adjustments—such as edging your body along the hammock—risk unfortunate outcomes: either an outright fall or rather peculiar ventriloquist-like positions that are hard to maintain for long.
4. With that, you will find that others will step away from the hammock, fearing that your spill could somehow harm them.
