[mafribe]

The ECB has effectively acted as a lender of last resort to Greece for a looong time (just look at ELA [1] for example), although for political reasons this fact has been sugar-coated so as not to scare the electorate in states that pay for Greece (and are now beginning to see what has been clear to anyone who looked at the figures, namely that the money is gone!). Greece was effectively bankrupt years ago. The main underlying issue is that Greece has been unable or unwilling (depending on whom you ask) to ensure that tax revenues roughly match government expenditures.

[1] https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/ela/html/index.en.html

[themartorana]

But there aren't many countries in the First World that run revenue neutral or better. The U.S. certainly doesn't, and most countries with fiat currencies and their own central banks don't. I realize it's "possible" in the broad sense, but Germany aside, it's a big ask of Greece (and austerity thus far has done about bupkis to actually deal with the fallout of the financial crisis).

[pjc50]

Greece is now able to run a primary surplus: revenue > expenditure. However, revenue < expenditure + interest payments.