Financial Crisis - Why Germans are wary of bankruptcy - People and Politics, 17.10.2008

It seemed too good to be true. A few years ago, over 100 German towns signed what claimed to be rock-solid leasing deals with dubious US investment firms. City officials evidently overlooked the small print, and the agreements were mostly in English anyway. It now seems that the so-called cross-border leasing deals are on very shaky ground following the US banking sector crisis. Reporter Sylvia Wassermann visits Gelsenkirchen, one of the many towns now worried about making significant financial losses.