Maybe so, but we are both speculating on this.
However the truth of what happened with the Euro is devastating.
Also the IMF was also part of the Greek debt restructuring deal, so it wasn't that different from what Brazil or other countries have experienced.
I am not against the Euro, far from it. But the EU could have handled this crisis much better for the benefit of both Greece and itself.
The Greek economy wouldn't have collapsed, and the anti-Euro sentiment which led to the rise of ultra-right-wing parties in EU wouldn't grow that much.
Maybe the word recession was not accurate. Also Germany is a highly developed country, so it's expected to have minimal growth.
Greece should be compared to other developing economies in Europe (mostly pre-communist states), and that comparison is eye-popping...
The real economy, the one that affects people's lives, is still something like 25% below what was pre-2009.
In essence people are still 25% poorer than they were before 2009.
That's the worst recession EVER recorded in recent history. Worse than the 1930s.
That's why Greece is only slightly above Bulgaria (yet) in real purchasing power compared to other EU countries.
Don't get me wrong. There were a lot of benefits for most of the EU countries,
but the lack of common economic strategy, and regulation prooved catastrophic for some.
I hope Bulgaria and the EU have learned from past mistakes (I don't think they have).
While EU and the Euro had good intentions and prospect, it turned out to be a disaster for some of us.
Greece is in a recession for more than 16 years now, with no visible exit,
because (one of many reasons of course) it couldn't devalue its currency back in 2009.
Now we might speculate that Greece couldn't have avoided this, even if it weren't for the Euro,
but having lived this from the inside, I think that it wouldn't be that painful.
Countries like Japan, Italy and even USA nowdays, have comparable debt to GDP indexes,
but none of them (as far as I undestand) have had this kind of dorp in living standards,
price inflation or increase in poverty rates since 2008.
Best of luck to our Bulgarian neighbours. They are going to need it!
I've switched jobs (software) recently (after 6.5 years).
While searching for jobs, I went once through the "now-standard" hiring procedure for an employer,
that included an automated test with programming and IQ-test like questions. It was the 1st time I went through it.
I think that a college freshman might have done better in some of the questions, regardless that I have ~15 years of experience.
Also the software they used (their own product I was supposed to work on) had a bug in the report, that falsely indicated I hadn't completed one of the tests.
The whole experience was
a. Stressful
b. Somewhat irrelevant to my skillset
c. Totally dehumanizing
Long story short, I started looking for opportunities using my connections etc, and settled for a job with less $$ but hopefully less bullsh*t too.
Also the IMF was also part of the Greek debt restructuring deal, so it wasn't that different from what Brazil or other countries have experienced.
I am not against the Euro, far from it. But the EU could have handled this crisis much better for the benefit of both Greece and itself. The Greek economy wouldn't have collapsed, and the anti-Euro sentiment which led to the rise of ultra-right-wing parties in EU wouldn't grow that much.