14 years
I still think this story gets blown up way out of proportion. Greece represents only 2.5% of the EU´s GDP and the sums involved are the same which were needed to bail out a small Bavarian bank last year.
My theory is this: We had that total dominance of the free-market dogma in the last two decades. Then, at the end of 2008, we saw that the market is not always right. It does indeed totally irrational things. For many people that must have been a severe conitgive dissonance. Fortunately, Greece came along and proved for them that there´s again a government which totally fucked up. This story is perfect to divert the debate from the real issues.
The market is not right about Greece´s ability to pay its debt. There is no rational explanation that a failed state like Pakistan now gets credit at lower interest than a Eurozone country. What´s happening now is that Greece will refinance its debt with money from the EU and the IMF. The IMF always got its money back. It´ll be no different this time.
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