27 April 2015

Your Guidebook to a Greek Financial Default

April 26, 2015

The Hellenic Republic has too much debt. So much, in fact, it is unlikely to be able to repay it all—even given more bailouts and more time. There are few viable choices, many views, and the typical convoluted European politics. The chances of something dramatic happening are rising.

It is worthwhile to review how we got here: The 2008 financial crisis exposed the Greek debt problem, yields spiked, and in an effort to maintain stability in the European Union (EU), the troika—the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission, and the European Central Bank (ECB) — bailed the Greek government out. This kept Greece in the EU, and the EU itself stable for a time. But the troika required adjustments to the Greek economy in return for its money, and this “austerity” thrust the Greek economy into a depression-like economic cycle.

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