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In ancient Greek tragedy, there was always a point where events took a turn for the worse. Things seemed to be going well, the hero was on his way up, and then, poof, it was gone. Mayhem and misfortune followed.

Investors these days might be wondering if they haven’t reached that inflection point, too.

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This isn’t just because of Greece’s “No” vote last weekend, which should not have surprised global investors. Greeks have suffered through years of austerity with little sign it was helping the country or millions of citizens pay their bills.

For the 61 per cent of Greeks who voted to reject the creditor offer presented to them by Prime Minister Alex Tsipras — although never structured as a formal offer by the creditors themselves — it must have been a simple case of “What have we got to lose?”

Of course, they stand to lose quite a bit in terms of jobs, exports, public safety and membership in the eurozone, but they preserved one thing, at least: pride.