Time to reboot Greece

The Greek drama is now becoming a joke. As we have been arguing for the past year, the country needs to reboot, and start over again. Spiegel on why Greece needs a bankruptcy.

Greece has disappointed its creditors yet again. Now its government plans to ask for more time — and needs billions more in aid. But Greece’s euro-zone partners are unwilling to provide any more help, meaning that the only hope now is to admit defeat and let the country make a fresh start.

Officially, at least, everything is going according to plan. In September, officials with the troika — made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — are planning to travel to Athens to check on the progress that Greece has made with its cost-cutting program.

Then, according to the plan, they could disburse billions more in aid out of the second bailout package for Greece, which the euro-zone countries and the IMF agreed on in February.

But, in reality, it is rather unlikely that all of the €130 billion ($160 billion) in the bailout package will ever be paid out. And what is even more unlikely is that the money would keep Greece from going bankrupt.

Full article here.