>"The Greek Crisis is about so much more than money"

Dead right. It's an excellent example of what happens when loony left ideologues are given control of the treasury. It's a classic example of the utter incompetence of the loony left at managing anything (other than group hugs).

A very interesting article with a views that agrees with how I can see it from here in Cologne. However,

"The story of Greece is a tale of irresponsible borrowing and irresponsible lending."
(www.stratfor.com/weekly/beyond-greek-impasse?)

"Neither Greece nor its European partners show any sign of emerging from a state of shared uncertainty any time soon."

They seem to share a common certainty that Greece intends to live at others' expense.

"Just as real as the trust challenge will be Greece's problems with its own culture, especially as it relates to such things as taxation, entitlements and work."

LOL You can say that again.

How can the Greek debt be such a problem that some are saying that Greece intends to live at others' expense.
The US has such a large debt that it can never be paid off and has had this debt for all of it's life except for about a year during 1835–1836.
the United States has continuously had a fluctuating public debt and will continue to do so.
As for irresponsible borrowing, they have mastered the art.
No Greece has rebelled against being led into a poverty trap that the Troika is so adept at springing.
Iceland saw this and said "no thanks".

Robert LePage, the USA has its own currency. It sets its own credit limit that it can always lift when Congress agrees, so whether or not it is the best option, continual borrowing is not irresponsible. The worst that could happen is the markets would devalue the dollar a bit, but exports would soon put a stop to that. But Greece does not have its own currency, and the value of the Euro is too high for it to export its way out of trouble.

It's now almost universally recognised that Greece should never have been allowed to join the Euro in the first place. But since they have, much of the blame for its current predicament can be laid with the European Central Bank. Because not only is the ECB denying Greece the credit it needs, but it is making austerity a condition of further assistance. Without a healthy private sector, austerity weakens the Greek economy (both public and private sectors) so any agreement for further austerity won't solve the problem – at most it will postpone it for a few months.

Robert Le. I take your point about the volume of US debt. However, the Americans manage to service that debt in full and on time when it is due. The British financed Belgium, Prussia, Austria Russia and Spain thought the Napolionic wars creating mammoth debts, but retained the trust of investors to repay those debts as they fell due. America virtually finance the Second World War and rebuilt Japan and Germany at the conclusion. Again, as the author states, it is all about trust by investors.

The authors comments on cultural difference throughout the union are well made and at the heart of the issue. The observation by Peter Lang is well taken and could be equally be made regarding the UN.

Yes, the Greek nation is a house divided against itself, with its greatest claim to fame how to live well beyond your means for years and massively waste other folk's money.

If Greece returned to the drachma, it would be able to use quantitative easing to give the economy a bit of shot in the arm?

Via monetary policy; as well as become a source of cheap labor for european manufacturers just to get the populace gainfully employed and earning some essential export income for Greece.

They don't have to print drachmas to return to it, when all they need is to hit a few keys to register a drachma exchange rate for the purpose of digging themselves out of the financial current hole!

Nothing should leave those shores as raw or unprocessed product and it could become a premier low cost tourist destination to the same end!

They could and should ask for a moratorium on interest in order to reduce their debt burden given it's only the cost of servicing this debt, that continues to drown Greece in unrepayable debt?

I'm sure the creditors would rather have all the capital repaid over reasonable time; than say take ten cents in the dollar the result of forcing Greece to declare bankruptcy.

Greece could do worse than take a leaf out of the Irish book and the Celtic economic miracle!

An economic miracle that took another basket case economy and turned it into one of the most successful in Europe; always providing the Greeks also remember, what killed it at the height of its success; namely, foreign debt laden speculation!

Just don't go there!
Rhrosty.

I would like to propose two perspectives on Mal Fletcher's article. A racist one, and a trendy lefty one.

As a racist, I would point out that what Mal Fletcher wrote about Greeks and the Germans being intrinsically different in their values and attitudes, is self evidently true. It was not an accident of history that the Reformation began with the North. Nor that the widespread acceptance that scientific thought trumped religious dogma, was largely a Northern attitude. This was probably because, once civilisation in northern Europe had taken hold, (it was still was largely forest and far less fertile than the South,) northern Europeans evolved to be far more critical in their thinking than southerners, because their survival depended upon it.

And if multicultural Europe is under strain, with the Northern Europeans doing all the heavy lifting while the Southerners want La Dolce Vita at the Northerners expense, then emulating multicultural Europe is insanity for Australia. This premise seems to be valid, as some ethnicities in Australia act just like the Greeks in Europe, and they are endemic welfare dependents.

From a trendy lefty point of view, Mal Fletcher is a racist to claim that Greeks are different to Germans. Therefore, the reason why the Greeks are poor and the Germans are rich, must be because the Germans somehow oppress the Greeks. It must be the German's fault. As a socialist country, Greece should be able to borrow as much money from the Germans as they want, forever, and keep paying their people overly generous social welfare forever. After all, money simply falls from the sky in Germany, so what are the Germans complaining about?

Money does not fall from the sky in Greece, because of man made global warming caused by the Germans, the Americans, and the Israelis. All the Greeks need to do is to keep voting for Socialist governments. Then the Socialists can think up new ways to spend the money they borrow forever from Germany, on Greek voters to buy their loyalty.

Socialism in excelsia.

LEGO. A touch of witticism goes a long way :)

LOL... Slam Dunk, LEGO

Two observations.

Greece was part of the post war consortium that took a haircut and 'forgave' the vast bulk of West Germanys' wartime debt in 1953. What debt remaining was giving low interest with repayments being linked to Germanys balance of trade surplus.

Germans forget this today.

Secondly ,no shared currency has ever worked... the Euro was a disaster just waiting to happen

Yeah sure, the entire Greek nation is collectively responsible for repayment of the irresponsible loans provided by NW European bankers for the benefit of Greek oligarchs. So every Greek pensioner, child and worker now must spend years in economic misery because they 'deserve it'---what a load of drivel.
These structural adjustment policies have been inflicted on Third World countries for generations, everyone is punished except the kleptocracy which skimmed of the bankers' money.

When the real estate bubble bursts and members of the middle class discover, to their horror, that their McMansions are worth half their mortgages, they will be the first to protest against austerity policies.

Greece thought it could free load off every other country. Why dont I try that borrow millions then say how about you write it off no great lose. Easily done.