Comparison to Italy where the mafia billions keeps the economy afloat.

So Greece is in trouble because it isn't criminal enough? ;)

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

Two, the summer Olympics cost $15 billion, and Greece made some money back. A boondoggle? For sure. But, we're talking about a huge budget deficit here. $15 billion is small.

Greece could lift their block on Turkey tomorrow and it wouldn't matter at all, in case you haven't noticed. I would not recommend that they do that, however. Plus, entering the EU for Turkey does not mean Turkey enters the eurozone. The aquis for Turkey will surely contain all sorts of limitations on Turks within the EU. Do you really think Turkey deserves to be in the EU given their invasion and ethnic cleansing of Greek Cypriots and the subsequent refusal to allow their rights to property (a whole other topic, I agree).