The Sick Man of Europe (Short History of Greece)

Defining Ideas ^ | March 9, 2012 | Victor Davis Hanson

[C19fan]

Not long ago, European Union bankers gave the Greeks a €110 billion bailout—along with stern recommendations to stop cooking their books, to go after tax cheaters, to trim fat public payrolls, to reform ludicrous pensions, and to open up the economy to the private sector.

The money men were answered with riots, strikes, and defiance in the streets of Athens. Even as the government has nodded that it would enact prescribed austerity measures, it found ways to delay or subvert them. The Greek message, whether deliberate or not, came off as either, “Don’t tell us how to spend your money,” or “We owe you so much that we dare you to try to collect.”

[Olog-hai]

“The Sick Man of Europe” was a nickname applied to Germany less than a decade ago.

[Parmenio]

Germany is alot sicker than it appears.

[Verginius Rufus]

The irony of using the phrase is that it was first used about 200 years ago of the Ottoman Empire (when much of Southeast Europe was still under Turkish rule).