When you have Moody's and Standards and Poors deciding the public policies of nations we have a problem.  These are the same guys who brought us the economic calamity with AAA ratings.  

The funny thing is that in Greece they still have these notions that there is some kind of validity to representative democracy.  So, if someone else is elected, unless they opt out of Eurozone, they will still be bound by the austerity zone mentality.  

I don't defend my compatriots for the mess, but when the Eurozone banks were financing the party and making money, Merkel et. al were not complaining, neither were the German citizens.  As when the French and Americans were selling weapons to Greece's disproportionate military expenditures.

Here's the beginning:

I have never been more desperate to explain and more hopeful for your understanding of any single fact than this: The protests in Greece concern all of you directly.

What is going on in Athens at the moment is resistance against an invasion; an invasion as brutal as that against Poland in 1939. The invading army wears suits instead of uniforms and holds laptops instead of guns, but make no mistake - the attack on our sovereignty is as violent and thorough. Private wealth interests are dictating policy to a sovereign nation, which is expressly and directly against its national interest. Ignore it at your peril. Say to yourselves, if you wish, that perhaps it will stop there. That perhaps the bailiffs will not go after the Portugal and Ireland next. And then Spain and the UK. But it is already beginning to happen. This is why you cannot afford to ignore these events.

And perhaps this sounds familiar:

It is vital to understand that I do not wish to excuse my compatriots of all blame. We did plenty wrong. I left Greece in 1991 and did not return until 2006. For the first few months I looked around and saw an entirely different country to the one I had left behind. Every billboard, every bus shelter, every magazine page advertised low interest loans. It was a free money give-away. Do you have a loan that you cannot manage? Come and get an even bigger loan from us and we will give you a free lap-dance as a bonus. And the names underwriting those advertisements were not unfamiliar: HSBC, Citibank, Credit Agricole, Eurobank, etc.

[snip]

...We became a nation sleepwalking toward the deep end of our newly-built, Italian-tiled swimming pool without a care that at some point our toes may not be able to touch the bottom.

That irresponsibility, however, was only a very small part of the problem. The much bigger part was the emergence of a new class of foreign business interests ruled by plutocracy, a church dominated by greed and a political dynasticism which made a candidate's surname the only relevant consideration when voting. And while we were borrowing and spending (which is affectionately known as "growth"), they were squeezing every ounce of blood from the other end through a system of corruption so gross that it was worthy of any banana republic; so prevalent and brazen that everyone just shrugged their shoulders and accepted it or became part of it.

There simply is no one good answer, just a bunch of "less bads."

Everyone here has stated some facts, some possible steps to take, and, of course, some plain crazy ideas.

As far as Greece voluntarily defaulting, someone here stated that it would be "lights out" for Greece as no one on earth would help in that event. I agree, It would make austerity look like a Roman, Gluttonous feast. However, if they choose that option, and are willing to suffer real traumatic pain for a good long while, and if they get some enlightened Leadership that can realistically reassess its assets, then somewhere down the road Greece can have a pretty good future.

But the greater risk, or Black Swan, if you will, is what happens to the rest of Europe? I contend that nobody knows, like with our derivative exposure, nobody can know what the effects will be on the whole enchilada, Europe.....followed by....everyone else.

If it were me, I'd tell'm to phuck off. I'd rather die standing erect, than be subjugated to the vampires that caused this disaster.

And please don't give me that nauseating, selective crap about how "nobody put a gun to their heads, and blah blah yadda yadda, puke! They are human beings no better, or worse, than any of us. When you have the combined wealth, power, and devious, criminal intent that the Trillionaire Goldmans, Chases, Citis, et al have; and when they utilize every marketing scheme known to man to "refinance, invest, roll over," and so on, no country on the planet could, or did, reject those advances. Put the damn blame where it so rightfully belongs: Right square in the fat guts of the Plutocrats who are making their final takeover attempt of the world.

They may have the money, but when the realization hits that they didn't "earn it," but rather bribed, blackmailed, tricked, and plain stole it, then I wonder how Jamie Damon wil feel when a few thousand of the "lower 99%" comes-a-calling to one of his mansions demanding what was robbed from them.

THAT'S what Europe is afraid of, and by extension, so are the American Oligarchs.

Whether or not the domino cascade teaches the EU a lesson, Greece falls immediately into far worse austerity than any yet proposed.