This crisis isn't one based on fattening the corporate interestes over the years, but on generations of giving away the store in order to stay in office. The Greek government was essentially socialist back in the '60's, somewhat unfriendly to the West, owing the the West's strong anti-communist stance, and generations of Greek citizens have made the unsustainable generosity of the government a part of their national culture.

It's not much different in Portugal, Spain, and even Italy, where government give-away's have typically been used to keep people in power. Government after government have given away more and more, and now it's time to pay the fiddler.

The "little guys" are, as usual the ones who'll suffer, but they're also the short-sighted ones who could, if not should, have known all along that this couldn't go on forever. I've heard that in Italy, tax evasion is a national sport. I doubt it's different anywhere else, but it's apparently been treated with a blind eye in some of these now-on-the-brink countries. It's not odd that people want to take what is offered, and avoid the cost wherever they can.

I certainly don't know what the Greek government can do to fix things. The problem is firmly embedded in the culture, and will take generations to "train out" just as it took generations to become established.

RE