Writing off the debt is the magic when the debt is as huge as it is for Greece. Extending maturity and / or reducing interest rates do not help much if you kno

Writing off the debt is the magic when the debt is as huge as it is for Greece. Extending maturity and / or reducing interest rates do not help much if you know that whatever improvements you make to your economy will be swallowed by the financial markets in the future (since the debt still exists). You are a slave country (all countries are dependent on the financial markets in more or less measure, but Greece has completely lost its freedom) Would you work to pay for your student loans if you realized that you will never be able to pay it back, in your whole work life, and that you will be subject to the dictate of your creditors forever? If default was not an option (you can not default on student debt in the US?), I would just leave the country.