This kind of ridiculous stunt is why the Germans are sick and tired of giving Greece money. They've been model world citizens and have been subsidizing Greece for decades, and trying to use this now is the ultimate in spoiled screaming teenager tactics. Nobody bankrupted Greece except Greece - as the Nordics, who actually got their shit together, very painfully, like to point out.
If I remember correctly, it was the 3rd party auditors that made the economical recommendations that led Greece to bankruptcy. In a perfect world, the financial institutions and auditors that pushed Greece onto such a road would pay for the economical disaster that they directly contributed to. But I guess that they're busy giving bonuses to C*Os. If your financial consultant (or tax consultant) makes wrong calculations/projections/recommendations for you and puts you into default, wouldn't you seek compensation from him? You did pay him to give you realistic results. How can one country's rating go down from AAA to Junk in one day?
Germany are somewhat dour and grumpy parents, and a Grexit now is much less harmful to Eurozone than it would have been two years ago, so being kicked out of the house isn't out of the question at all. I wouldn't push it too hard.
You're claiming that it's not fair, but the IMF and ECB gave Greece loans at rates that are not sustainable. I can get an EURO credit at a lower rate than Greece has. Furthermore, for Germany it's win/win. They bought out a lot of Greek companies for pennies. Think of OTE that was bought by Deutsche Telekom. I personally feel like this is looting and not helping out. Private corporations from the US, UK and Germany (financial and audit) bankrupted Greece with bad advice, while earning serious money for it (think Deloitte, S&P, etc.). When the bubble burst, the Greek government received help at ridiculously high rates from a few countries and multi-national institutions. Then came the major companies from those countries and bought everything for pennies. Afterwards, they are still complaining that the Greek can't make the payments.
I'm not German or Greek, but have been following this for years in the Economist and Bloomberg, and I know lazy scammers trying to wheedle more money rather than earn it.
I see your problem right there: you're reading it from Economist or Bloomberg. How about checking out the bare survival conditions of a lot of Greek citizens? Should Greece abandon them because Germany said austerity is the way? The Greek government's responsibility is to it's citizens. P.S.: I'm not Greek or German either. I don't live in Greece or Germany, but I try to get my news from newspapers that aren't necessarily in New York, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo or Hong Kong.
