[miratrix]

Not quite true - Greek bonds did not have significantly higher interest rates than other Euro denominated bonds.

Greek bond chart: http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GGGB1YR:IND/chart German bond chart: http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GDBR1:IND/chart

Go back out 3 years, and you'll see that as late as December 2009, the yield spread was minor, and that it didn't start to really diverge until July of this year.

[_delirium]

Hmm, that makes it somewhat puzzling that anybody bought Greek bonds at all. Was there any reason to prefer Greek bonds to German bonds, given the superior fiscal position of Germany and the greater liquidity of the German bond market?