> The point is, however, that the German elite is totally hell-bent on staying a net exporting country forever. That goal doesn't imply that it's reasonable fo

> The point is, however, that the German elite is totally hell-bent on staying a net exporting country forever. That goal doesn't imply that it's reasonable for them to simply "give away" the value of that surplus, let alone for them to give away in excess of that surplus for any period of time. The latter is important because some of the bailout proposals have germany giving up multiple years of export surplus. In addition, some of the proposals seem to be both giving up on Greek debts owed to Germany (and/or German banks) and taking on debts owed to others. Note that the surplus does give Germany some power, so it isn't just bits on a disk. > So long as Germany and Greece both accept the game, their will never be any problem of insolvency. Another problem is that admiting to that game is (for Germany) admitting to being a sucker. While Germany may, in fact, be a sucker, admitting it is a very different thing.