Should Greece leave the eurozone?

Greece has emerged from a six-year recession, but the prospect of victory for the country’s far-left, anti-austerity opposition party Syriza in snap elections later this month threatens a new crisis for the eurozone.

Syriza’s leader Alexis Tsipras has promised to write off some of Greece’s $322bn worth of debt – a grand and dramatic gesture, but behind it is the truth that Greece just cannot live with this sort of burden.

But Tsipras’ idea is something one of the country’s biggest creditors is not willing to contemplate. In fact, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel has let it be known that she is quite happy for Greece to leave the eurozone, in the so-called “Grexit” scenario.

But Berlin actually needs Greece and the eurozone intact: Without the euro, the economy would shrink by half a percentage point a year to 2025. That is a loss of $1.4tn, with 200,000 fewer jobs. 

So, will Greece leave the eurozone? How big a threat is a Greek exit to Germany and the whole eurozone?

Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos looks at the arguments for and against a Greek eurozone exit and its impact. And Siegfried Muresan, from the European Parliament Budget Committee joins Counting the Cost to discuss Greece’s place in the eurozone.

Falling oil prices

Oil prices have fallen again to below $50 a barrel, the lowest point since April 2009.
 
This is good for consumers, because petrol prices are going down, but not for the producers. And that includes the United States, where the future of thousands of ad-hoc, small-time oil wells is under threat too.

Al Jazeera’s Tom Ackerman reports from Pennsylvania.

Oil is also very important to Venezuela, and a deepening recession along with soaring inflation is taking its toll.

Venezuela’s public transport system is deteriorating severely. Many of the vehicles are ageing rapidly and a lack of spare parts in the country means many are forced to fix their vehicles using any materials they can find.

Al Jazeera’s Monica Villamizar reports from Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

Will Detroit ever be the same again?

Despite major product recalls, 2014 was the best year for US car sales since 2006, before recession and bankruptcy hit GM and Chrysler: 16.5m cars were sold, and even with the falling petrol prices, carmakers are still emphasising fuel efficiency.

Chevrolet introduced a revamped Chevy Volt Hybrid as well as a new all-electric concept car, and Ford unveiled a new GT supercar, one of 12 high-performance cars it is bringing to market.

So cars in Detroit are doing well, but what about the rest of the city? Will “Motor City” ever be the same again? Alan Fisher reports.

The CEO of Ford, Mark Fields, joined us on Al Jazeera during the Detroit Motor Show to talk about electric cars and the way forward for the car industry.