05/10/2012
Greek Tragedy? Now a Comedy!
Thursday, May 10, 2012 As of 9:07 AM EDT The Wall Street Journal Enterprise Edition Powered by Factiva
-
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Tick Tech Dough
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=28Sep 20, 2011 – 4 days ago – Home · Sample Page · Terrorismo di Hindutva: Sid Harth. Eurokrise: Sid Harth. Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. US Poverty: Sid ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « हिन्दू तर्क शास्त्रद्न्य ...
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=71Oct 11, 2011 – Sep 22, 2011 – Sep 14, 2011 – il y a 13 heures – Terrorismo di Hindutva: Sid Harth. Eurokrise: Sid Harth. Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. -
Sid Harth (@elcidharth) on Twitter
twitter.com/@elcidharthGet short, timely messages from Sid Harth. Twitter is a rich ... Eurokrise: Sid Harth bakulaji.typepad.com/devilmaycare_s… about 5 hours ago via TypePad ...
You shared this · Public -
Eurokrise and I « Bookle+
www.topcogitoergosum.com/?p=695Jan 16, 2012 – Sep 19, 2011 – Eurokrise: Sid Harth | Are we There yet, Oops, 2012?: Sid Harth says: … Eurokrise: Sid Harth | India's Superpower Euphoria: ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « The Devil and a Dingbat
www.allcogitoergosum.com/?p=228Sep 13, 2011 – Home · Sample Page · Terrorismo di Hindutva: Sid Harth. Eurokrise: Sid Harth. Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. US Poverty: Sid Harth. -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « …and I am Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumonline.com/?p=272Sep 14, 2011 – il y a 13 heures – Terrorismo di Hindutva: Sid Harth. Eurokrise: Sid Harth. Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. Povertà degli Stati Uniti: Sid Harth. -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=327Sep 20, 2011 – ATHENS: Talks on Greek debt rescue funds dragged into a second day on Tuesday over tough EU-IMF terms, and Italy was hit with a credit ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=334Sep 20, 2011 – ON WE go. That was the message from Greek politicians at a conference in Athens today put on by The Economist. We believe in the July 21 ... -
Eurokrise and I - cogito ergo sum
www.sidileak.us/2011/12/eu.htmlDec 5, 2011 – November 2011 – Eurokrise: Sid Harth – Home Sample Page als admin ... Eurokrise: Sid Harth | USA: News, Views und Bewertungen ... -
Eurokrise and I
www.cogitoergosumblog.net/page/32/Nov 13, 2011 – Oct 11, 2011 – Too Sexy for Your Party, Rick Perry: Sid Harth – Eurokrise: Sid Harth … Eurokrise: Sid Harth | India's Superpower Euphoria: Sid ...
-
Sid Harth Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumcenter.com/?FORM=Z9FD1&paged=7Mar 4, 2012 – Feb 18, 2012 – Foreign Policy and I » My Sister Eileen: Sid Harth … ... france eu obama iran nuclear full free image · france eu obama iran ... -
Sid Harth Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumcenter.com/?p=24Sep 12, 2011 – Agosto 25, 2011 – corrupção: Sid Harth | O mundo da soma de Cogito .... Eu não soube sobre a mineração ilegal até que eu fui inspecionar as ... -
Rupert Murdoch's Requiem: Sid Harth « Foreign Policy and I
www.arabuhuru.org/2012/02/11/rupert-murdochs-requiem-sid-harth/Feb 11, 2012 – UK/EU Media/Public Relations Specialist – FTSE 50 ... Jun 7, 2011 – The Wall Shit Journal and I: Sid Harth | Cogito Ergo Sum … You +1′d ...You shared this on Blogger · Apr 17, 2012 · Public -
U.S. 'Not Interested' In China Confrontation, But Risks Remain - Forbes
www.forbes.com/.../u-s-not-interested-in-china-confrontation-but-ris...Feb 7, 2012 – Just ask American and EU manufacturers including electronic giants to return home, the threat will ... …and I am Sid Harth@arabuhuru.org ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Tick Tech Dough
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=28Sep 20, 2011 – 4 days ago – Home · Sample Page · Terrorismo di Hindutva: Sid Harth. Eurokrise: Sid Harth. Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. US Poverty: Sid ... -
For many in India, landfill is a livelihood and a home - Page 2 - Los ...
articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/22/world/la-fg-india-trash.../2Apr 22, 2012 – Of Slums, Garbage Dumps of Mumbai and I « Sid Harth Sid ... Sid Harth - इदं न ममwww.cogitoergosuminc.com/?paged=2. You shared this on ... -
Dumb and Dumber News From India « Thus Spake Sid Harth
sidharthspeaketh.com/2012/02/.../dumb-and-dumber-news-from-indi...Feb 4, 2012 – Subbumian Zindabad: Sid Harth « …and I am Sid Harth ..... Eurokrise: Sid Harth. Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. Povertà degli Stati Uniti: Sid ... -
INDIA: NOT FOR SALE « Thus Spake Sid Harth
sidharthspeaketh.com/2012/02/20/india-not-for-sale/Feb 20, 2012 – Oct 5, 2011 – Global Village: Sid Harth Just another WordPress site ...... the US and the UK, now EU) is an existential threat the whole humanity. -
It's The Budget, Stupid: Sid Harth « इदं न मम
mysistereileen.com/?p=1256Mar 24, 2012 – Sep 15, 2011 – 1 day ago – Terrorismo di Hindutva: Sid Harth. Eurokrise: Sid Harth. Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. Povertà degli Stati Uniti: ... -
The U.S. Could Be Against A Nuclear Iran Because of Business ...
www.policymic.com/.../the-u-s-could-be-against-a-nuclear-iran-beca...Feb 9, 2012 – I am Sid Harth. Are you ... Iran has now called the EU's bluff with a bill under consideration to slam the door on oil exports to Europe overnight.
-
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Tick Tech Dough
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=28Sep 20, 2011 – Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. ... World stocks fall as global economic slowdown, Europe's debt crisis fears intensify · US stocks end lower ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=327Sep 20, 2011 – Welcome:Sid Harth|My Page|Log Out| ... works of the European sovereign crisis by downgrading Italian debt by one notch to A late last night,” ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=321Jun 28, 2011 – India's Superpower Euphoria: Sid Harth. Posted on ... To put the crisis behind, Europe needs to take a quantum step forward. It needs to focus ... -
America's Superpower Euphoria and I « Foreign Policy and I
www.arabuhuru.org/2012/02/.../americas-superpower-euphoria-and-i...Feb 12, 2012 – Amen. …and I am Sid Harth … its own budget deficit and will run out of money by … U.S. Could Face European-Style Debt Crisis: ...You shared this on Blogger · Apr 27, 2012 · Public -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « The Devil and a Dingbat
www.allcogitoergosum.com/?p=228Sep 13, 2011 – Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. ... PARIS — Facing market pressure to resolve the Greek debt crisis once and for all, President Nicolas ... -
Welcome Sid Harth, I am WSJ. « इदं न मम
mysistereileen.com/?p=1887Apr 12, 2012 – इदं न मम: My dear Robert Naiman, I am Sid Harth .... on European loans, which were hit by the region's sovereign-debt crisis, the people said. -
It's the Economy, Stupid: Sid Harth « Americas: Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumclub.com/?p=33Sep 15, 2011 – 21 hours ago – Eurokrise: Sid Harth · Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid .... A resolution to the problems engulfing Europe and its debt crisis will be ... -
The U.S. Could Be Against A Nuclear Iran Because of Business ...
www.policymic.com/.../the-u-s-could-be-against-a-nuclear-iran-beca...Feb 9, 2012 – The oil embargo is a powerful symbol of American and European opposition to Iran's nuclear program, but it is unlikely to .... I am Sid Harth. -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « …and I am Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumonline.com/?p=272Sep 14, 2011 – Eurokrise: Sid Harth · Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth · US Poverty: .... of euro-denominated bonds to help ease Europe's debt crisis, a senior ... -
Grease, Oops, Greece Crisis: Sid Harth - cogito ergo sum
www.sidileak.us/2011/06/grease-oops-greece-crisis-sid-harth.htmlJun 28, 2011 – My Sister Eileen: Sid Harth » The Devil and a Dingbat: Sid Harth ... Europe's debt crisis has returned full circle to the problem that started it over ...
Ads - Why these ads?
|
-
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Tick Tech Dough
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=28Sep 20, 2011 – Jun 28, 2011 – The Rise and Fall of Hindutva Poster-Boy: Sid Harth · Tax and ... World stocks fall as global economic slowdown, Europe's debt crisis fears .... regional election defeat for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « हिन्दू तर्क शास्त्रद्न्य ...
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=71Oct 11, 2011 – Sep 14, 2011 – il y a 13 heures – Terrorismo di Hindutva: Sid Harth. ... Europe Delays Meeting on Debt Crisis Actions ... after largely inconclusive talks between the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « The Devil and a Dingbat
www.allcogitoergosum.com/?p=228Sep 13, 2011 – 12 hours ago – End of the World, Oops, Rick Perry: Sid Harth | My Sister … ... President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of ... the direction of the European debt crisis and is looking for action, before ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=321Jun 28, 2011 – India's Superpower Euphoria: Sid Harth ... Only 22% of Germans have faith in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ability to handle the financial crisis, ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=334Sep 20, 2011 – Sovereign debt crisis: Blackmailed and humiliated .... The German people are getting sick of bailing out the Greeks and Angela Merkel's party is ... -
Eurokrise and I « इदं न मम
mysistereileen.com/?p=30Jan 16, 2012 – European sovereign debt crisis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ... Posted by Merkel Miracle and I — My Sister Eileen: Sid Harth … .... Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany shortly before a meeting with the Finnish prime ... -
Grease, Oops, Greece Crisis: Sid Harth - cogito ergo sum
www.sidileak.us/2011/06/grease-oops-greece-crisis-sid-harth.htmlJun 28, 2011 – My Sister Eileen: Sid Harth » The Devil and a Dingbat: Sid Harth ... Feb 10, 2010 – European Union leaders have hailed an agreement to use ... Jump to debt crisis: Some politicians, notably Angela Merkel, have sought to ... -
The Devil and a Dingbat: Sid Harth - cogito ergo sum
www.sidileak.us/2011/07/the-devil-and-a-dingbat-sid-harth-3.htmlJul 2, 2011 – Europe as the region grapples with a debt crisis . ... www.sidileak.us/2011/06/grease-oops-greece-crisis-sid-harth.html - Cached ... and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, spearhead negotiations between the government ... -
US stocks slide as Greek debt worries grow - The Economic Times
economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinions/10046520.cmsMarket yields on Italian and Spanish bonds rose further above 5 percent despite six weeks of European Central Bank buying. "Eurokrise: Sid Harth" ...and I am ... -
Wassup? Doc! Oops, MSNBC « Foreign Policy and I
www.arabuhuru.org/2012/02/20/wassup-doc-oops-msnbc/Feb 20, 2012 – …and I am Sid Harth@cogitoergosumsite.com ..... Obama said he and Merkel agreed that the debt crisis in Europe “cannot be allowed to put ...
Ads related to Sid Harth "Sid Harth" EU debt crisis Angela ...Why these ads?
-
Europe's Debt Crisis
A simplified guide to how the European debt crisis got so badwww.aei.org/ -
Crysis 3 Trailer
The latest game from award winning developer Crytek. Watch the trailerwww.crysis.com/ -
Analysis: Eurozone crisis
Analysis of ECB strategies and the future of the Eurozonemib.rbs.com/eurozone-credit-markets
-
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=327Sep 20, 2011 – ... of India|The Economic Times|. Welcome:Sid Harth|My Page|Log Out| ... Greek debt talks, Italy downgrade cloud eurozone. Story; Comments ... -
The U.S. Could Be Against A Nuclear Iran Because of Business ...
www.policymic.com/.../the-u-s-could-be-against-a-nuclear-iran-beca...Feb 9, 2012 – The latest round of hot rhetoric and saber-rattling out of Europe and Teheran suggest that the crisis will likely escalate before .... I am Sid Harth. -
Comments on: Bachmann: "Women want competence" - CBS News
www.cbsnews.com/8601-3460_162-57428726-3.html?...41...3 days ago – ...and I am Sid Harth@mysistereileen.com: Reply to this comment. by BishopRomney May 6, 2012 2:00 PM EDT: Republicans believe sex ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Tick Tech Dough
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=28Sep 20, 2011 – Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. ... US stocks end slightly higher on earnings reports · World stocks fall as global economic slowdown, Europe's debt crisis .... Market yields on Italian and Spanish bonds rose further above 5 ... -
Grease, Oops, Greece Crisis: Sid Harth - cogito ergo sum
www.sidileak.us/2011/06/grease-oops-greece-crisis-sid-harth.htmlJun 28, 2011 – My Sister Eileen: Sid Harth » The Devil and a Dingbat: Sid Harth ... Europe's debt crisis has returned full circle to the problem that started it over a ... Portugal and Spain , and the potential knock-on impact on Europe's banking ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Don't get me started
www.cogitoergosumshop.com/?p=159Sep 13, 2011 – Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. ... Tracking Europe's Debt Crisis .... more successfully in Spain than Italy — to cut their deficits and debt to try ... -
Society Discussion: Boom-Boom-Bomb-Aye?: Sid Harth
www.usenetmessages.com/view.php?c=society&g=663&id...Sid Harth http://bakulaji.typepad.com/blog/boomboombombaye-sid-harth.html ...... deputy governor said Thursday, adding that Europe's debt crisis isn't becoming a ..... Spanish lender, leaving investors worried over what next was in store in ... -
Next Week: The all or nothing trade | Journalist Profile | Reuters.com
blogs.reuters.com/mike-dolan/.../next-week-the-all-or-nothing-trade/Oct 13, 2011 – The confluence of two key events — the Oct 23 EU summit in Brussels and ... stabilise the euro zone sovereign debt and banking crisis, then there could be a ... Posted by Rating cut puts Spain back on crisis radar - Top news - Financial news ... Posted by Merkel Miracle and I — My Sister Eileen: Sid Harth ... -
Rupert Murdoch's Requiem: Sid Harth « Bookle+
www.topcogitoergosum.com/?p=1086Feb 29, 2012 – Wednesday, February 29, 2012 Logged in as Sid Harth | Log out ..... Cogito Ergo Sum: @mysistereileen.com @wsj.com #DebtLimit … ..... The Rain in Spain is Falling all over Europe Sweeping away whatever is in its ... -
How the Pentagon Makes Out in the Debt Ceiling Deal - ABC News
abcnews.go.com/.../how-the-pentagon-makes-out-in-the-debt-ceiling...Aug 1, 2011 – Previous Gabrielle Giffords Returns to Congress for Debt Ceiling Vote. Next .... Get out of Europe, Japan, Korea – they don't need us there. They are very ... Posted by: Sid Harth | August 2, 2011, 12:15 pm 12:15 pm. Pull all of ...
-
Sid Harth Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumcenter.com/?FORM=Z9FD1&paged=7Mar 4, 2012 – france eu obama iran nuclear full free image · france eu obama iran nuclear full .... Feb 13, 2012 – End of the World, Oops, Barack Obama: Sid Harth | My .... Starred results for @mysistereileen.com #wsj.com Obama Debt … -
State of the Union: Why Obama Used Foreign Policy to Address ...
blog.gmfus.org/.../state-of-the-union-why-obama-used-foreign-polic...Jan 25, 2012 – Central and Eastern Europe ... Obama focused largely on the economic challenges still facing the United States — but framed those challenges in the context of recent national ... My dear Mark R Jacobson, I am Sid Harth. -
Sid Harth | Sun Journal
www.sunjournal.com/users/sideviliam...and I am Sid Harth@mysistermarilynmonroe.com ... Debt Ceiling Debate ... To show my respect and admiration to US president Barack Obama and his Former ... (according to MS Sarah Palin, et al), his late rising over a crisis in Europe, his ...You shared this on Blogger · Sep 19, 2011 · Public -
Opinion: Obama's foreign policy helps U.S. interests in Europe ...
www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/75840.htmlMay 2, 2012 – I am not an Barack Obama (period) fan. He (Barack Obama) knows. She (Hillary Clinton) knows. I (Sid Harth) knows that they (both) know. -
Newt Gingrich's mark on the GOP race, and on Mitt Romney ...
www.latimes.com/.../la-ol-newt-gingrich-made-mitt-romney-seem-sm...Apr 25, 2012 – Obama, winner take all? ... He didn't seek to oust Obama, he was going to bring fundamental ... ...and I am Sid Harth@mysistereileen.com ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Tick Tech Dough
www.supercogitoergosum.com/?p=28Sep 20, 2011 – Trabalhos Bill dos E.U.: Sid Harth. ... US stocks end slightly higher on earnings reports · World stocks fall as global economic slowdown, Europe's debt crisis ... Separately, President Barack Obama on Monday called for $1.5 ... -
US Intel Director Prepares Public for False Flag Event | OzHouse Alt ...
ozhouse.org/.../us-intel-director-prepares-public-for-false-flag-event/Sid Harth Reply. February 6, 2012 at 10:48 pm. I hate to comment, one more time, on the same subject. US foreign policy, or the lack thereof. More latter than the ... -
Eurokrise: Sid Harth « Hindutva
www.bigcogitoergosum.com/?p=327Sep 20, 2011 – ... of India|The Economic Times|. Welcome:Sid Harth|My Page|Log Out| ... Greek debt talks, Italy downgrade cloud eurozone. Story; Comments ... -
Puncturing the hot air balloons on defense spending | iWatch News ...
www.iwatchnews.org/.../puncturing-hot-air-balloons-defense-spendin...Jan 26, 2012 – Rhetoric confuses reality, as Obama's defense budget proposal ... Panetta announced on January 12 that around 7000 U.S. troops in Europe will be removed .... use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest” for public works projects ..... Juicy cheese burger, anyone? and I am Sid Harth@sidileak.com. -
Bachmann: "Women want competence" - CBS News
www.cbsnews.com/.../bachmann-women-want-competence/?...3 days ago – "That's coming from the Obama reelection team." ... ...and I am Sid Harth@mysistereileen.com: Reply to this comment ... Europe followed the Republicans plan, and are averaging less than 0.5 percent growth. .... Disaster in Japan · Foreclosures · Debt Crisis · Massacre in Norway · Election 2012 · Marijuana ...
Ad related to Sid Harth "Sid Harth" EU debt ObamaWhy this ad?
-
Official Obama Website
Join the fight! Help Barack create an economy that's built to last.www.barackobama.com/
- Search only WSJ.com
- ECONOMY
- Updated May 10, 2012, 9:07 a.m. ET
How a Radical Greek Rescue Plan Fell Short
more in Business »
Email
Print
By MARCUS WALKER
ATHENS—Two years after Europe bailed Greece out to protect the euro, the rescue has become a debacle that threatens to unravel the common currency.
After Greece's May 6 elections left pro-bailout parties too weakened to govern the country, more elections are likely in June, with no guarantee a stable government will emerge. By next month, Athens must identify €11.5 billion, or $15 billion, in fresh spending cuts or face suspension of the international loans it needs to pay pensions and run schools. If it doesn't get the money, it would eventually have to print its own.
Greece's growing turmoil is the culmination of a radical austerity experiment and botched economic overhaul that have pushed the nation to the brink of social and political breakdown. The story of the ill-fated bailout suggests that forcing deep austerity on individual member states won't save the euro and may worsen its crisis.
![[debtstream0510]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-SX473_debtst_D_20120510065911.jpg)
Euro Zone by the Numbers
The 17-nation euro zone is a collection of countries with vastly different economic profiles. See how they stack up on the major measures.
Key Players in the Debt Crisis
Above all, Greece's example illustrates the conflict between Germany's tough terms for aiding other euro members and the amount of pain other societies can bear. Greece's fate shows that what it takes to sell bailouts to a skeptical German public can be politically calamitous in Europe's indebted south.
"The program is suicidal, not only for Greece but for the euro," says Louka Katseli, a former Greek economy minister. "In Spain, Portugal, Italy—everywhere, the same mistake is being made," she says, referring to the European Union's insistence on slashing spending in a recession.
Germany reiterated on Wednesday that Greece needs to stick to its austerity promises; euro-zone governments decided on Wednesday to postpone part of Greece's next aid payment as a warning to Greek politicians.
Greece's bailout by the EU and International Monetary Fund is the costliest financial rescue of a nation in history, with paid or pledged loans totaling €245 billion. It has already involved the biggest-ever sovereign-debt default, a debt restructuring that wiped out more than €100 billion of Greek bond debt.
Yet the restructuring left Greece with two mountains to climb: curbing a still-rising debt more than 1.5 times the size of its economy, while forcing down wages and prices to make the country competitive.
Straining to keep Greece afloat, the EU and IMF doubled their bet in March, greatly expanding the loan program despite the country's deepening political paralysis.
Responsibility for the mess, many of those involved in the effort say, lies with a Greek political class that couldn't or wouldn't reform the country, an unrealistic program that assumed a quick economic recovery despite draconian austerity and crushing debts, and growing mistrust between Greece and its creditors.
"It was almost a mission impossible," says George Papandreou, the luckless Greek premier who negotiated the original bailout and then was forced out by a party revolt last fall.
Mr. Papandreou says that when he asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for gentler conditions in 2010, she replied that the aid program had to hurt. "We want to make sure nobody else will want this," Ms. Merkel told him.
Greece's economy has already shrunk by 14% in the past three years, and IMF officials privately expect a further 6.5% contraction this year. Something has to give, and it could be the boundaries of the euro.
Europe fears that a Greek exit from the euro could spur massive capital flight from Portugal, Spain or other struggling euro members. Some European officials argue privately that the euro could cope with a Greek exit because markets understand that Greece's debt crisis is uniquely severe.
Others worry that by triggering runs on banks and government-bond markets it could endanger the currency itself. That would present Germany and Europe's north with a terrible choice: to watch the centerpiece of Europe's decades of political integration collapse or to rush into a deeper fiscal union, including common bond issuance, to save the euro.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
George Papandreou: Greek premier October 2009–November 2011.
Inherited debt crisis. Promised changes but struggled to keep his
Socialist party together in face of voter wrath.
Bloomberg News
Angela Merkel: German chancellor since 2005. Imposed painful terms
for bailing out Greece, now fears a Greek exit from euro could
destabilize other members of currency.
When the IMF and European countries banded together in May of 2010 to offer Greece a €110 billion rescue, leaders believed they had acted boldly to avoid calamity.
The deal required Greece to get a grip on public spending and tax collection while revamping a bloated bureaucracy and jungle of laws that had rendered its economy internationally uncompetitive.
While everyone accepted that Greece needed fiscal retrenchment, the IMF argued for giving structural changes priority and making the spending cuts gradual, to protect the economy.
Germany said no: Structural reforms would take place at the same time as drastic austerity to bring down the budget deficit—15.8% of gross domestic product in 2009—to under 3% by 2014. The timetable proved unrealistic: Spending cuts and tax increases pushed the economy into such a deep recession that the deficit got stuck at around 10% of GDP.
Usually when the IMF imposes austerity, it makes a country devalue its currency, in the hope its cheaper exports will offset falling domestic demand.
But Greece no longer has a currency of its own to devalue. Its downward spiral bears increasing resemblance to Argentina's a decade ago. Argentina tried to maintain a fixed exchange rate to the dollar even as IMF austerity drove it deeper into recession, ending in social unrest and political breakdown.
From the start, Greece's surfeit of debt undermined its chances. Mr. Papandreou's financial adviser, Lazard Ltd., told him the country's bond debts were unsustainable and needed restructuring.
The head of the IMF at the time, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was open to it. But Europe wasn't. France and the European Central Bank feared that a Greek default, even via a negotiated restructuring of bonds, would undermine trust in other euro members' debt. Germany thought debt forgiveness would relax the pressure on Athens to make other changes.
"I'd like to cut my debt in half too," Ms. Merkel told Mr. Papandreou during a meeting at the Berlin chancellery, according to the Greek premier.
Despite Greece's concerns over the plan, its efforts to change began strongly. Polls showed solid public support for taming bureaucracy, corruption and tax evasion, and scrapping the privileges various interest groups had won over the years. Lawyers, taxi drivers, railroad employees and many other groups enjoyed protection from competition or special tax or pension perks, creating cartels and waste.
Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou attacked the budget deficit. Sharp spending cuts and tax boosts brought the deficit down to 10.6% of GDP in 2010. But change quickly fell victim to party politics.
Firebrand opposition leader Antonis Samaras, head of the conservative New Democracy party, denounced the tough bailout terms and declared that local elections in November 2010 were a referendum on the ruling Socialist party, known as Pasok. Mr. Papandreou called on Greeks to back him or sack him. Pasok won the elections, but by a much smaller margin than before.
"Voter fatigue was obvious," says Haris Pamboukis, a cabinet member at the time.
Mr. Papaconstantinou found himself increasingly isolated in cabinet. The U.K.-trained economist was an outsider in Greek politics. He couldn't get other ministers to shut loss-making state industries and pointless army bases, or to ax thousands of civil-service jobs created in return for votes. Nor could he reduce Greece's chronic tax evasion, abetted by corruption among tax inspectors.
Bloomberg News
Antonis Samaras: Head of conservative New Democracy party since
November 2009. Attacked the bailout program in 201011, now supports it.
Fared badly in Sunday's vote.
Bloomberg News
Evangelos Venizelos: Finance minister, June 2011-March 2012.
Papandreou's successor as Socialist leader, tried and failed to make
Europe relax the bailout terms, led his party to a heavy election
defeat on May 6.
He did what he could: cutting pensions and public-sector pay, while raising sales taxes. But that sapped consumer spending. Shops and small businesses failed. Unemployment surged. Public hostility grew.
Civil servants facing pay cuts went on strike, including at the finance ministry. "It was a case of 'you pretend to pay me, I pretend to work,' " one minister says.
In spring 2011, austerity and collapsing business and consumer confidence pushed the economy into free fall. Protests rocked the center of Athens. There wasn't enough support in Parliament to pass the next set of austerity measures.
In June, Mr. Papandreou replaced his finance minister with the premier's biggest rival, Evangelos Venizelos. Europe's ebbing trust in Greece soon plunged.
Mr. Venizelos, who has been described as one of the most eloquent Greek orators since ancient times, took the finance job reluctantly, fretting that the unpopular task could destroy his political ambitions, colleagues at the time say.
Many Greeks hoped he would be a tough negotiator with Europe and the IMF. Mr. Venizelos's first foray was at a finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg. His long speech hit all the wrong notes.
He told his euro-zone peers they needed to relax Greece's austerity targets, citing the growing political difficulties. He called privatization goals unrealistic and blamed EU law for making asset sales complicated. He suggested Europe had no choice but to lend more money because a Greek bankruptcy could destabilize the euro zone. Greece's crisis "is a European problem," he said.
Other ministers reacted with fury. To them, it sounded as if he was trying shirk hard decisions while blackmailing his creditors. They lambasted Mr. Venizelos until 2 a.m., saying Greece had to rebuild its credibility before it got any more aid.
Instead of releasing a quarterly loan payment as planned, the ministers put it on ice until Athens enacted more austerity.
As the meeting ended, the bruised Mr. Venizelos tried once more to secure the money, to allow him a political victory at home. "I'm here for the first time," he pleaded, according to people who heard him. "It would be a bad signal if the tranche is not released." Jan Kees de Jager, the equally burly Dutch finance minister, erupted in anger.
Part of the government's problem, Europe knew, was that Mr. Samaras was assailing the austerity measures, and his conservatives had overtaken Pasok in opinion polls as a result.
Ms. Merkel and other heads of European conservative parties summoned Mr. Samaras to Brussels on June 23. For three hours, they pressed him to back the program. Mr. Samaras told them the program would fail. "Then you will need a plan B, and I'm the one who can bring it about," he said.
Ms. Merkel asked Mr. Samaras what he proposed. He said he agreed with cutting the budget deficit—but he wanted to do it by cutting taxes to spur the economy.
A tax cut would create a bigger budget shortfall, other conservative leaders said. Only Viktor Orban, Hungary's maverick premier, sided with Mr. Samaras. "Some understand that we are right," the unbending Mr. Samaras told reporters after the meeting.
Mr. Venizelos tried again to force a relaxation of the bailout terms in September. At nighttime talks in his finance ministry, inspectors from the EU and IMF pressed him to lay off civil servants and shut loss-making state enterprises.
Mr. Venizelos refused. "I don't want to enter into a technical discussion with you. The issue is political," he said, according to people present. (Mr. Venizelos didn't return messages requesting comment.) The inspectors told him they couldn't offer any political concessions, and left town without recommending the release of Greece's next slice of aid.
The finance ministry had less than €1 billion left in its coffers. The monthly bill for public wages and pensions was around four times that. Greece's government avoided bankruptcy only by not paying its suppliers.
Mr. Venizelos had to appeal again to European finance ministers, who met in Wroclaw, Poland, in mid-September. The night before the meeting, Germany's Wolfgang Schäuble collared Mr. Venizelos in their hotel's cellar bar and made it clear over a bottle of fine wine that Europe was getting fed up with Greece.
"If you want to stay in the euro, you have to act," Mr. Schäuble said.
Greece did want to stay in the euro, Mr. Venizelos said.
Mr. Venizelos became more cooperative, euro-zone officials say. But the Greek program was badly off track. The government had made little headway on its long list of promised changes to reduce red tape, increase competition and attract investment.
In October, the IMF, now under the more stringent leadership of former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, forced Europe to recognize reality: The numbers didn't add up.
That forced European leaders to grant Athens debt relief. An EU summit on Oct. 26 led eventually to a 53.5% "haircut" in Greece's bond debt, coupled with more aid loans. But by this time most of Greece's debt was owed to euro-zone authorities and the IMF, rather than to private bondholders. A bond restructuring that could have worked at the outset had a limited effect: Greece's debt fell from €356 billion in 2011 to a projected €327 billion this year.
Ms. Merkel and other euro-zone leaders thought the haircut-and-new-loans deal had settled the Greek question. But in Athens, the government was falling apart.
Amid rising social unrest and fraying support in parliament, Mr. Papandreou proposed a referendum on the expanded bailout.
Ms. Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, angered by Greece's unpredictability, told the Greek premier in the French Riviera resort of Cannes on Nov. 2 that the referendum should make the choice facing Greeks clear: Implement the bailout program or leave the euro. He agreed.
On the government plane home that night, Mr. Papandreou suggested getting some sleep and rolled onto his side. Mr. Venizelos stayed awake, took out a sheet of paper and scribbled a news release denouncing the referendum. "Greece's position within the euro area is a historic conquest…that cannot be put in doubt," he wrote. On landing in Athens at 4:45 a.m., he released the statement without informing Mr. Papandreou.
Lawmakers close to Mr. Venizelos came out against Mr. Papandreou. His referendum and his majority were history. He resigned days later.
Euro-zone leaders' open talk of expelling Greece shocked the country. Consumer and business spending nearly came to a halt. Savers queued at banks to take their cash home.
Mr. Samaras, too, was shocked. After months of denouncing the program, he joined a bipartisan coalition supporting it. Messrs. Samaras and Venizelos became reluctant partners, propping up a new prime minister, former central banker Lucas Papademos.
But Mr. Papademos, a cautious former ECB board member, lacked the political clout to push the overhaul of Greece's economy and state through a reluctant Parliament. Instead, most reforms were on ice until the May elections.
It was Mr. Samaras who insisted on holding early elections. He rejected Pasok's entreaties to let Mr. Papademos govern until the parliamentary term ended in late 2013. Mr. Samaras was confident his New Democracy party could win. His advisers didn't believe the opinion polls, which showed collapsing support for both major parties—his and Pasok—and rising votes for Communists, neo-Nazis and other radical groups.
On May 6, New Democracy and Pasok fared even worse than opinion polls suggested. The nation blames the two established parties for getting Greece into a debt crisis, and for destroying it in the attempt to escape.
Write to Marcus Walker at marcus.walker@wsj.com
Comments