Two years ago I wrote this diary detailing how Greece got itself into trouble. http://www.dailykos.com/...
The NY Times a couple days ago had this article which serves as a follow-up:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The emphasis is this article is important since the story of Greece that has been perpetuated by people like Michael Lewis is that the Greeks spend too much on social welfare (untrue), that the Greeks have too many gov't workers (untrue), that they don't pay taxes (85% receive paychecks with deductions and they have a 70% tax rate, the country also collects 40% of GDP in revenue).
These articles highlight the real reason Greece is in trouble. A vendor-finance scam with arms manufacturers and European banks sends money from Euro taxpayer pockets to the wealthy bankers and manufacturers and corrupt Greek politicians. With little to no risk. Because any losses are sopped up by taxpayers.