Can any members of Euro-Bore offer some history on how things got this bad in Greece?
Greece had a big property bubble, I think, like the US and Spain and some other places. So when it burst, a lot of people suddenly found themselves in debt and stopped spending money, which led to businesses losing customers and firing people, etc. So basically same as the recession in the US.
The trick is that when you're in a recession, you devalue your currency relative to others (like the US making the dollar weaker against the Euro), so that goods made in your country can be exported cheaper, driving up foreign demand. So other people start buying more of your stuff and your economy gets back on track.
Only Greece can't do that, because they're part of the Euro group, and Germany has been the leader in setting monetary policy. Germany hasn't had that bad a recession, so unsurprisingly they push for a policy that works for their economy, even as it screws over Greece. So now Greece is super fucked up and needs to be bailed out, which Germany and France don't want to do, but they also can't afford to let Greece leave the Euro and go back to having its own money. So everyone's got a gun to their head and any possible solution seems politically near-impossible in at least one of the countries.
