Greece thought it had leverage when it had none, and, as a result, it's crippled its economy even more than it already was for nothing.That's the simple story after Greece offered to meet almost all of Europe's demands in its latest bailout bid. The key word there being "demands." Greece thought it could negotiate with Europe when it was really being told what to do, but now knows it has no choice but to comply if it wants to stay in the euro zone—which it does. So that's why Athens is proposing a deal that's almost the same as the one its voters just rejected in a referendum. Although even that might not be enough. While it's true that France has come out in support of Greece's latest offer, Germany has been conspicuously silent. Greece might have to cut its budget more than it's already saying it will and take money from people's bank deposits to win Berlin's approval. The bottom line, though, is that the referendum didn't give Greece more bargaining power, like the government said it would, and and now Athens will have to do as much austerity as before, and possibly more.Read full article >>
