Assigning Blame for Greece's Unbearable Debt - Bloomberg View

Assigning Blame for Greece's Unbearable Debt - Bloomberg View



Let’s go back to 2010, when Greece's government -- having blown its own budget projections -- found itself at the epicenter of the European financial crisis. Private investors, including big, thinly capitalized German and French banks, held pretty much all of Greece's sovereign debt. This presented Europe's leaders with a choice: Lend Greece the money needed to satisfy creditors, or let Greece default -- in which case Germany and France might face the politically fraught prospect of bailing out their banks directly.