A Greek Lesson

The victory of the far left party in Greece is evidence that the people can effect change if given the opportunity in free and fair elections. It remains to be seen whether the new government will be successful in favourably negotiating the current national debt. But it is admirable that after a turbulent time in the teeth of a crisis the Greek people were able to hold peaceful elections and change the government without being plunged into constitutional crisis. 

The new challenge will be navigating the murky waters of international finance. The debt currently being serviced by Greece is essentially a loan to guarantee repayment on money's owed to various financial institutions. None of the money will effectively kickstart the Greek economy. So what we have is the EU bailing out a financial system that imprudently made bad loans at the expense of economically weaker nations. I wonder if any nations will be considered too big to fail.