People want easy answers. The Greeks are to blame; they borrowed, spent and avoided tax excessively and now they should pay for it, right?
The truth is more complicated. It's partly true but also true is that private European banks who lent the money to Greece were more than happy to take the high interest return for what they knew was a high risk.
When the GFC exposed such irresponsible lending (like US subprime mortgages) the banks wanted their money back and didn't take responsibility for the high risk.
European governments appropriated their domestic taxpayers' money and lent it to Greece to pay the banks. And demanded the already devastated Greek economy be shrunk further with austerity measures. The Greeks are easy scapegoats but who pays the price?
Certainly, the Greeks have paid, many with their livelihoods. Certainly European taxpayers have paid. But the banks? They get bailed out by ordinary people betrayed by their governments.
Mark Buttigieg, Kyeemagh
