>shutting off all forms of payment in the entire country indefinitely
Technically the ECB threatens to stop providing emergency credit. That Greece has made itself completely dependent on emergency liquidity from the ECB is the country's own silly fault. Are ordinary Greeks to blame? Yes, they're responsible for the people they elect.
That said I don't think the current situation makes much sense. The odds are high that the debt will never be paid back and that Greece will never have a developed-country government. There have been some promising developments recently, but I'm sure we can all agree that Greece should never have been admitted to the Eurozone and maybe not even the EU.
>Technically the ECB threatens to stop providing emergency credit.
Technically, they were threatening to shut off access to target2.
>Are ordinary Greeks to blame? Yes
Ioannis Papandoniou is likely happy that you're unwilling to let him take too much of the blame. I guess he's suffered enough already right?
Goldman Sachs too (couldn't have happened without them).
>That said I don't think the current situation makes much sense.
It seems to be functioning as intended. Desperation in Greece is driving emigration to Northern Europe which is keeping a lid on wage inflation there and privatization of state assets in underway, which affords profitable opportunities for the right sort of person: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/29/greek-privatization-program-o...
As a Greek I'm aghast by fellow know-it-all Greeks who bought in in this we deserver what we're going through. And it's not just random commentators on HN, it is an entire political class.
> Are ordinary Greeks to blame? Yes, they're responsible for the people they elect.
G.Papandreou who campaigned with the MOTO "there are enough money for everyone", went around Europe calling Greeks crooked by default. As if every Greek is a crooked and tax-evading[1] citizen. Then came along Pagkalos of course, but the same MOTO is rhetoric is re-played time and again by politicians, just to name a few: A. Georgiadis at "Enikos", A. Loverdos before him, E. Venizelos and many others have replayed this recurring theme.
I don't believe that there is another country's population, who has received so much systemic brainwash into believing that it is it's own fault.
You want to tell me that when the Minister of Finance tells me that our banks are safe (2008), you would expect from the 60-year old public worker to understand that he is lying and believe otherwise? I don't.
So again to answer your question:
> Are ordinary Greeks to blame? Yes, they're responsible for the people they elect.
Fuck no! It's easy to be pissed with the prior generation but it is a simplistic and stupid approach.
> Technically the ECB threatens to stop providing emergency credit.
I won't enter into details because I'm bored. I've have written thousands of word regarding Greece, the EU and ECB here on HN and honestly I'm tired. The ECB was created as an apolitical instrument and it's been since then used time and again (Ireland, Greece, Portugal) as a political tool by French and German politician to save their bankrupt banks.
Do you have any idea what is really happenning here[2] ? It's not about Greece, so hatred should not cloud your judgement. If you don't know what is happening in this instance, please gets your fact STRAIGHT please.
ADDENDUM: The only politician who got it right about the ECB was M. Thatcher in her last speech in the house of commons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZZf7cLhPG8 - it's outstanding how a right-wing, libertarian politician understood, what French, Greek, Italian, etc. Socialists failed to see...
[1] The problematic relationship between Greek citizens and the Greek goes back to 1821 and it's almost exclusively the state's fault. There are cultural and historical reasons why this is, however, the state still today sees the average as tax-evader a priori.
Technically the ECB threatens to stop providing emergency credit. That Greece has made itself completely dependent on emergency liquidity from the ECB is the country's own silly fault. Are ordinary Greeks to blame? Yes, they're responsible for the people they elect.
That said I don't think the current situation makes much sense. The odds are high that the debt will never be paid back and that Greece will never have a developed-country government. There have been some promising developments recently, but I'm sure we can all agree that Greece should never have been admitted to the Eurozone and maybe not even the EU.