MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
This article is a good back ground as what lead to what is going on in the Euro. It is a very good read. There has been much going on that is not showing on the surface of this crisis. There is also a clear short history as to the rise of the current government.
Greece hit their breaking point a long time ago but now Germany has reached their breaking point.
The European creditors — specifically, the Germans, who have really been the ones controlling European negotiations with the Greeks — reached their own terminal point more recently. The Germans are powerful but fragile. They export about a quarter of their gross domestic product to the European free trade zone, and anything that threatens this trade threatens Germany's economy and social stability. Their goal has been to keep intact not only the euro, but also the free trade zone and Brussels' power over the European economy.
Germany has so far avoided an extreme crisis point by coming to an endless series of agreements with Greece that the Greeks couldn't keep and that no one expected them to keep, but which allowed Berlin to claim that the Greeks were capitulating to German demands for austerity. This alleged capitulation helped Germany keep other indebted European countries in line, as financially vulnerable nations witnessed the apparent folly of contemplating default, demanding debt restructuring and confronting rather than accommodating the European Union.