The author takes the wrong stance; I believe it is intentional. An argument for Greece *does not need* the continent to think of itself as a judge of a sovereign people's virtues and shortcomings. This dividing mindset just exposes policymakers' inadequacy (or Orwellian doublespeak). The Greek state is no more to be blamed than the banking system financing it at low rates; the downturn was not visible. If the ECB is to be taken as more of an "institution" than the Greek state, it should take on some responsibility! The bubble was not caused by borrowers and the less financially sophisticated; without cheap money there would be no bubble.



Europe should be thinking of its own shortcomings. It should be thinking of the global need to moderate the pace of globalization, in face of a severe setback. Forces of globalization have been too uneven and biased against the lower income part of the European population. Market fanatics are creating a pressure for authoritarian regimes, in fact officially, with the signature of the ECB pressing for supply side measures and export-based surpluses; financial market fanatics are even worse.



Globalization, clearly, means that unskilled workers in China and in EU will be earning about the same. The economy of the 1% and the ability of capital to move, means western societies are increasingly dependent on rent-seekers, not paying their proportion of taxes to balance social needs, resulting in fast deterioration of lower and even median real incomes. German wages, increasing slower than inflation, for a long time now, serve as a loud example.



Allowing banking system surpluses of the north to flood the south and create bubbles is not going to go away. If excess savings are not mobilized, debt deflation will drawn first the south, as a guinea pig, and then feed on the north that eventually will be unable to replenish credit defaulted upon and make good the books of its banks. This is a race to the bottom for the ill conceived and unregulated EZ financial system.



QE and depreciation is long overdue; EZ comes last of the advanced economies, in long lasting denial of its internal problems. Still the discussion is about the short term benefits of savers and lenders by deflation versus the bubble and unilaterally "profligate" economies of the south. This is a product of brain-washing by the inadequate elites, supporting vested interests that hold them in power. The fact is that savers must be pushed to mobilize their savings. How, is a political question and includes the choice of taxation (of income, investments and other wealth).



Internal barriers against a race to the bottom in taxation (i.e., end anonymous companies and increase transparency), and helicopter, sovereign money to reinstate values, as needed to cover debt face values created during the bubble, are necessary. To moderate the pace of globalization, bias toward local investment is necessary. Limits (or taxation) to interbank lending for non-GDP contributing purposes are a global necessity, extended by institutional provisions for enforcing lending against real estate is *fully* backed by capital.



BTW and for the author's information, a large part of the Greek business community, indebted and with idle investments (and markets), just wants to see an end to the the downturn; the bottom. Markets know how to settle debts; banks do not and need regulatory intervention. Your perception of "a culture of dependency" is quickly eroded, as EZ continues its biased policies of unilateral support to the gains of savers and lenders, perpetuating capital staying idle and rent-seeking by means of interest. The clock is ticking. As hard as its path is, Greece is not the problem.