It seems to me that the new government of Greece is making progress in improving their financial situation... their personal, individual wealth, that is, of course, following the tradition of corruption:

http://www.tovima.gr/politics/article/?aid=688036

Google translation: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=el&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tovima.gr%2Fpolitics%2Farticle%2F%3Faid%3D688036

Ensure a primary surplus (revenue exceeding spending before debt costs) Default while staying in the euro Much of the world is shifting away from the EU and USA towards China. They are setting up an alternative payment clearing system to SWIFT and infrastructure bank - no reason why Greece cannot realign towards China and Russia for monetary and energy needs.

If they don't have a primary surplus, they have to raise debt so cannot default.

Your point about 'leading countries' is irrelevant as none of them are contemplating debt default. Greece cannot default while running a deficit as it would need to raise debt to finance that deficit while repudiating earlier debt

@FrankGlencairn: Yes, here's another reference from times long ago.

People are happy.

Like many, I am dumbfounded why Greece is being asked to adopt austerity measures which have been proven time and time again to be failed policies. Nobel prize winning economist Krugman laid all this out years ago, no one can claim that they don't know that the policies will fail. Therefore, there must be a reason why the EU is pushing failed policy, it could be currency speculation, it could be any number of things. In America, the most likely reason for such a scenario of failed policy is that one company will leverage another to ransack the pension, which is the largest stealable cash pile in a company. The situation in Greece could be a sort of leveraged buyout on a gigantic, nationwide level.

Greece has a permanent tourist endowment. No matter what Greece does, there is an enormous influx of hard cash that just rolls in, just like sitting on an oil well, and this money must be spent wisely. The EU needs a real plan that is not based on fraudulent "austerity voodoo economics." So far, they have not shown any interest in a real plan.

Here's a good summary: http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-europe-greece-2015-6

"For the past seven years, Krugman argues, the financial noose Europe has placed around Greece's neck has strangled the Greek economy. Each time Europe has loaned Greece money, it has demanded spending cuts in return. And these spending cuts — austerity — have further damaged the Greek economy.

In the past, every time the situation has come to a head, Greece has caved. And, in the process, it has transformed itself into little more than a financial slave state mired in an economic depression.

There is no way Greece will ever be able to cut its way to prosperity, Krugman argues. And history suggests that any argument to the contrary is crazy."

Just like a credit card that comes in the mail.

It seems that people said no to EU

http://ekloges.ypes.gr/current/e/public/index.html

No, they said no to the Troika, no to some stubborn bureaucrats that have no legitimity, whose names are unknown and who have not been democratically elected. In their words, "no to the Europe of banksters and technocrats". But that's not a no to the EU or the euro.

It really doesn't matter that much whether Greece leaves the Euro or says "no" to whatever deal the other EU countries offer.

What matters is that Greece is not only bankrupt in the sense of "has more debt than they can pay interest for", they are bankrupt as in "Greece has a permanent, high demand of imports, and nothing worth enough to trade in for it". Regardless of their currency or EU membership, they simply do not produce enough goods or services to sustain their lifestyle of the last decades.

Greece will learn the hard way that when there's no more constant inflow of money from other countries (lended, gifted, whatever), most of their population will have to live a much simpler life.

If Tsipras thinks that other EU countries will be inclined to continue to fill his pockets after he called them "Terrorists" and what not, he's delusional. He and his party are continuing the horrible system or patronage and corruption that has ruined Greece also under its previous governments. If you think that Syriza is acting for the better of the "poor people", just have a look at this news of today on a tax amnesty for rich Greeks who evacuated their money to Swiss bank accounts to evade taxes.

90% of greece debt is bankster bailout money. Good for greeks to tell banksters to stick their debt where da light don;t shine ! A great day for normal people the world over ! When will americans have the same courage ?

http://www.eurodad.org/files/pdf/54bfcb0f01b0b.pdf

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/7/1/greek-bailout-money-went-to-banks-not-greece.html

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/history-in-the-balance-why-greece-must-repudiate-its-banker-bailout-debts-and-exit-the-euro/

In a nutshell ( I thought most researchers knew this already ! ) the bankster bailouts to the imf are to bailout failed eurozone banks who made high risk loans ....again. It's the same old story. Banksters want to take the risks to get high interest paybacks, but when it goes south , they want pensioners to cover their asses. That's what the imf is all about.

david stockman sums up -

indeed, the purpose of the massive EU, ECB and IMF loans to Greece was just plain ignoble and corrupt. The European superstate deployed its vast fiscal and monetary powers to make whole the German, French, and Italian banks and other financial institutions which had gorged on Greece’s sovereign debt. For more than a decade, heedless gamblers and lazy money managers and bankers had loaded up on Greek debt bearing yields that superficially bore a premium relative to the German and US treasury benchmarks, but in fact did not remotely compensate for the self-evident credit risk embedded in Greece’s budgetary profligacy.

http://jubileedebt.org.uk/press-release/least-90-greek-bailout-paid-reckless-lenders

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-04/imf-director-admits-greek-bailout-was-save-german-french-banks