Euro Crisis “More Dangerous” Than Lehman, Says Soros

The euro zone sovereign debt crisis is “more dangerous” than the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008, according to George Soros.

“It is a more dangerous situation [than Lehman Bros] and I think that the authorities, when push comes to shove, will do whatever it takes to hold the system together, because the alternative is just too terrible to contemplate,” the legendary investor stated in a CNBC interview.

Soros went on to say that “I think that you could have two or three of the small countries default or leave the euro provided it is prepared and done in an orderly way…If it were to happen unprepared it could actually disrupt the global financial system, but that’s why it’s important to allow for it to happen and then those countries have a genuine choice it doesn’t mean they are being pushed out.”

As for the U.S., Soros contended that it has already entered into a new recession.

“We have a slowdown and basically a conflict about whether the rich ought to pay taxes to create jobs or not and there was a deal in the making which would have balanced the budget over the long term, but would have allowed short-term fiscal stimulus, which would have been the right policy,” he added. ”That was rejected, it fell apart… so it will come to the electorate next year to decide what they want.”