Couldn't have said it better myself...

Submitted by Caleb (United States), Sep 8, 2010 at 19:25

Greece's financial problems are the fault of Turkey? Bourthes! [Greek for "garbage".] Here is a reader comment appearing last April on the website of "the local", a German newspaper in the English language [take my word, this isn't an isolated opinion]... "14:12 April 24, 2010 by Bensonradar It's common knowledge that Greece has lived beyond its means. Their public service sector was a running joke, with civil servants running private businesses. Their middle classes turned tax evasion into an art form. They have nobody to blame but themselves. The previous government hid the deficit, so George Papandreou's incoming administration were caught out. Moody's downgraded the country's bonds to A3 status, four notches above junk. The cost of insuring Greek debt (CDS) jumped 565 basis points, reaching 200 points above that of Iraqi debt. But loaning them more money means they have to pay that back as well. Without a strong tax and internal fiscal policy, how are they going to pay it back? Greece's debt will never end. Mark my words. Then the UK, then Spain etc etc." The main opposition to Greece's leaving the Eurozone is from the Greek banks. They rightly fear a run on them by depositors if word got around that the Euros in those accounts were to be converted to New Drachmae--which would be useful for the toilet paper Ianus is so proud of Greeks using.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".