For the past 18 months, the Eurozone has been crippled by some of its member states being in need of bailouts and financial restructuring. The weak man of Europe is Greece.
Continued instability in the Eurozone is dragging the continent into recession at a time when the rest of the world is showing signs of economic renewal. In the US, jobs are being created and consumer confidence is bouncing back after three years of stalled activity.
Athens has been in talks with its bond holders to try to get the private lenders to take a 50 per cent haircut on their investments and to restructure the repayment periods over a longer period. But hand in hand with these talks are the needs for Greek public sector workers to endure 15,000 job cuts, pension cuts and other tough fiscal medicine.
So far they have shunned the prescribed medicine and have taken to the streets to protest the required austerity measures.
The European Union, European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the member states of the Eurozone do not have an infinite amount of patience. Nor can they afford to wait as their economies stagnate.
Greece must act now, or leave the euro. And the sooner the better.
