Germany's Hidden Risk

``The bottom line: Germany's Bundesbank--BuBa for short--has quietly, automatically lent €495 billion to the European Central Bank via Target2... If the euro zone breaks into sorry little pieces, Germany could possibly lose its entire €495 billion claim. That's more than $650 billion. It is 60 percent bigger than Germany's annual federal budget--and larger than the lending under the European Financial Stability Facility and other aid programs that have received more scrutiny.''