Greece Economy is Brain Dead and on EU/INF Life Support – And Someone is Getting Ready to Pull the Plug

Greek Recovery:  If Something Cannot Happen, It Will Not Happen

In order to stave off a complete financial collapse the Greek government agreed to the impossible task of running a budget surplus (before interest payments) of 3.5%.  In return the European community and the IMF gave Greece massive loans.  Now the loan money is running out and the bill collector is coming to Athens.

Wolfgang Munchau, probably the best of the world’s financial writers explains.

Failure to tell truth to power lies beneath much of what is going wrong in Europe right now. It may not be the principal cause of the Greek debt crisis, which is now on its umpteenth iteration. But it is more than a mere contributing factor. You notice it particularly at those moments when others speak the truth, as the staff of the International Monetary Fund have done recently. In its latest survey of the Greek economy it states that “public debt has reached 179 per cent [of gross domestic product] at end-2015, and is unsustainable”.

No it's not a TV show - It's the Soon to Be Greek Economy 

The problem is the same that any debtor who is over extended.  Greece cannot pay back the money it borrowed.  It’s creditors will not allow it to restructure (forgive) part of the debt.  It needs more money just to avoid default and collapse and ejection from the Euro and the EU.  A big payment is due this summer.

Athens will either default on its debt this summer and be forced to quit the eurozone, or Berlin will accept debt relief just a few months before the elections. Either way, this is a fight in which someone ends up on the floor.

The someone who ends up on the floor is almost certainly Greece.  Yes, part of it is its own fault, but a large part is a failed European policy led by Germany.  And if the EU collapses, well, welcome to a world of hurt everybody.  At best the can will be kicked down the road, again.  But the road is a dead end and there's not much pavement left.