[panarky]

> it's still borrowing to keep itself afloat

That's not actually true. After the severe austerity, Greece is now running a "primary surplus". Excluding interest payments on the debt, revenues are greater than expenses[1].

The issue is not whether you can shut down a government. The issue is that the debt burden is too large to ever be repaid based on the revenue-generating capacity of the economy.

And austerity only makes that worse. Banks and bondholders freely made loans to Greece that now cannot be repaid. The people of Greece didn't benefit much from these loans, as the vast majority was siphoned off by corrupt officials.

Why were rich banks and bondholders bailed out, while generations of ordinary Greeks must suffer in poverty and unemployment?

[1] http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2014/04/23/greek-primary-surpl...