>My own view is that the rest of Europe is acting to protect those who made the risky loans to Greece The loans haven't been held by private banks since the ba

>My own view is that the rest of Europe is acting to protect those who made the risky loans to Greece The loans haven't been held by private banks since the bailout started (who took a 50% write down in the process). The debt is now mostly held by the Eurozone states, and to lesser degree the ECB and IMF. The debt, by the way, is about 3% of the European GDP, and Greece's yearly interest payments are below many other Eurozone countries, and the maturity on the bailout funds is long (starting in 2030). The competing argument from the beginning was that the Eurozone governments should have just bailed out their own banks directly, and let Greece default. In hindsight that might have been the better solution, for the Eurozone at least. When you bailout a bank, you get control and you can sell your stake in the market later (for profit or loss). When you bailout a state, you have very little leverage and are exposed to the whims of the voters and politicians in a volatile situation, as shown by Greece. The argument that won in the end was to keep Greece afloat by a joint bailout by the Institutions (which goes against the no-bailout clause of the Eurozone treaties).