in accordance with it's own covenant. Standard & Poor's have since downgraded it's credit rating assessment to BB+. The equivalent of Junk status.

Greece is one of EU's poorest Nation's. Second lowest average income after Portugal. GDP: $ 343B. Public debt: $ 405.7 B. National debt: $ 552.2 B. Growth is minus two. Workforce: 4.9 million. Unemployment is 10 %, and tipped to reach 15 % next year i.e Bankruptcies, defaults, redundancies, and draconian austerity measures. It boasts a deficit of $ 42.83 in the RED.

Importantly, it must meet a debt deadline by 19 May.2011 or face the consequences. The specter is too horrendous even to contemplate.

Many thanks to the incompetence, cupidity, and sheer impotence of Sovereign Governments which will inexorably drag the Global Economy down. Govt's are no longer solutions. They are now problems, which have become a contagious liability.

It tells us that socialism in any form, right or left is doomed to fail because it don't work. Read the instruction manual with an inquiring mind set not a doubting mind set and you may see that you reap what you sew and he who sews bountifly reaps abundantly and he who sews sparelingly reaps little. The Present generation of socialist leaders wish to reduce mankind back to hunter gathers with starvation being the norm not the exception, and it doesn't work.
20 years ago a friend of mine an entamologist told me that the green mind set was to downsize food production to feed 500 million people.
If you open your mind you will see that happening right before your eyes. I sell cattle and our price has been going down while meat at the retail is increasing. As production cuts are forced by manipulation or social engineering our brave leaders are encouraging us to harvest skippy as it is so much better for our flatulance and will save the planet . WHAT B.S.

Thinkabit
You almost got to the cause of the Great Financial Crash.
You were right about the housing mortgage crash triggering on the
GFC. However you did not raise a query as why that happened.

The problem started about 2005 2006 when oil prices started rising.
This pushed up the cost of fertiliser and farmers fuel prices which
put substantial pressure on food prices.
In addition as most Americans drive to work their commute costs rose.

Then to make matters worse a push for ethanol got under way.
The effect of diverting corn to fuel again pushed up food, especially
meat prices.

To get out of this GFC problem governments pushed borrowed money into
the market and/or to save the banks.
Their intention is to use growth income to repay the debts.
Catch 22 is there is no growth. Peak oil occurred in July 2008 just
before the economy crashed. That was not a co-incidence.
Five of the previous four crashes were preceded by oil price peaks.
Greece has no growth and so will never pay its debts.
That is it and many in the financial scene seem to be saying it out loud.

This situation gradually got worse as oil prices got higher in 2007
and finally when tightness in the oil market pushed oil to US$147
a barrel the mortgagees could no longer stand the strain and stopped
their payments.

The problem will not be fixed with either the printing press or that
final frontier pixel money.