[saiya-jin]

> in order to develop an economy you need investment, not austerity

That's a nice theory, but considering all the stuff that came out about how dysfunctional Greece, on outside they were just bunch of liars. How can any politician justify to voters such a decision?

If you lend somebody money to improve his life, and he burns through them by doing stupid things and lying to you, and has no way to pay back, do you lend them more "in order to develop"?

Btw if I recall correctly your suggestion is what Obama did - pumping more money into economy after 2008. From what I read it was very ineffective and basically trillion(s) were mostly wasted without lasting effect

[RobertoG]

For an alternative economic explanation of what happened, you can read other posts (mine and other) in here. Basically what it has been done is saving, by an indirect route, the Germans and French banks exposed to Greece without improving (worsening actually) the life of the people there.

Consider that, theoretically, the problem to be solved was the public debt and now, many years later, and after forcing the solution on the patient, the debt is the same or worst.

I have to say, that I find totally alien the moral perspective from wich somebody can say something like "they are a bunch of liars" about an entire country.

Who is the liar? the taxi guy in Athens? the children of the school in the corner? the old people that miss the drachma? the young people that had to leave the country?

Never mind where you are from, a little of introspection (and some history reading) will show you how you could be easily any one of them.