Siegel: ECB Should "Backstop" Debt; U.S. Should Wait on Austerity Measures

Author and Wharton Professor Jeremy Siegel says that the European Central Bank should provide the liquidity needed to help the debt crisis in Europe, and that such a plan doesn’t need to involve a full bailout of Greece. Siegel says it could involve a multi-trillion-euro “backstop” of debt guarantees, and says that such a move could spur European stocks to jump 15% to 20% in a single day. Siegel also says that because consumers are deleveraging, the U.S. needs to wait a bit before it starts austerity programs designed to clamp down on public sector leverage, as public and private deleveraging would be too much of a strain on the economy.