On 03/25/2015 1:29 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 10:20:39 -0400, Joe
wrote:
....

The two data points are connected - Greece has far more government than
is healthy or affordable.

As we can see from the figures above, that's obviously not the issue.
You should have stopped with "Greece's problems are caused by gross
mismanagement."g
....

Well, it _is_ the problem; it's just that those aren't the full story...

The four of the five PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) are the the
2nd-thru sixth ranking for the highest percentage of central government
debt as %GDP trailing only Japan as #1 and Cyprus #3. Greece is #2 at
165% (yr end 2012, last data year in World Bank summary).

It's that overwhelming debt service that is crippling them
internationally as they're on the brink of default about every six
months or so. Besides the rampant corruption and all, the uncertainty
is the bane of any investment; entrepreneurial folks don't put money
where they perceive high risk/little reward.

Unfortunately, in the direction the US is headed, we're currently in the
top "dirty dozen" and risin'...

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