An EU fix stuck at German denial

So does this mean that the Greeks can say to the Germans, "either give us the bailout money so we can continue on our merry way or we will default on our debt and sink you as well"? (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2)

Great article. Germany has, and is, continuing to benefit. (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 1)
The problem has always been political. There are too many conflicted interests. Each party is after the best deal for them, not the best deal for a united Europe.
Does anyone in Europe really trust the Germans enough to let them rule the zone! Memories are long.

Succinct and lucid. (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2)

I must be honest. I'm really getting tired of people blaming Germany and "the European economic model". (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2)
Yes, that model has caused and will continue to cause problems. But those are nothing compared with the stupidity, outright lies and sense of entitlement coming from Greece.
Germany is right in trying to force Greece into being more like them. It's the only way possible the situation can be solved in the long term. What other choices are there? Germany pays for it all? Yeah, right. That way Greece will continue to cheat and rip off others (read up on the economic history of Greece from the last 150 years).

Oliver argues that Germany must become less productive before anything will be resolved. (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2). This is a strange argument. Surely the peripherals must improve their productivity to that of Germany. This will involve much pain for them since it will initially require lowering wages, as Greece is about to do, and an adjustment of government and private sectors to increase productivity.
The monetary agreement about to be finalised will buy the time for the productivity adjustments to happen. Europe is looking good in the medium term.

As usual, Hartwich writes a clear and accurate description of the macroeconomic issues involved in the eurozone debacle. (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2). Unfortunately, too many people (and not just Germans!) continue to think emotively, demonstrating a desire to punish the Greeks without regard for the bigger picture.
For example, Charles Harper wrote in his blog about "the stupidity, outright lies and sense of entitlement coming from Greece" and deduced that, because of this, Greeks should become more like Germans.
Yes, Greece lied its way into the eurozone, Greek workers are relatively less productive and their politicians have been less than clever in some of the decisions they have made. However, even allowing for deep cultural factors that would mitigate against Greeks adopting the same values and behaviours as Germans, increased austerity measures dictated by the Germans are likely to make matters worse in the medium term. Greece needs growth, not contraction, to get out of the mess it has made. When developing strategies to save Greece and other marginal members of the eurozone, politicians and investors need to look at the bigger picture, which Hartwich correctly describes. Unfortunately, solving it is another thing entirely.

Bit silly to blame Germans, who are known for being super productive, efficient and monetarily sensible, when Greeks retire at 55, on half of their salary's for the rest of their lives all at the expense of the public purse. (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2)
Germany is simply setting the bar high. If other lazy countries can't compete and overspend stupidly, then they should be cut adrift from the euro and left to burn. That is pure economics, plain and simple.

Germans are adamant that the troubled euro countries must install strong fiscal disciplines to overcome the present crisis. That makes the Germans sound unreasonable as fiscal austerity is pro-cyclical at the moment (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2). But the claim of strong fiscal discipline belies the truth that the Germans simply don't want to lend money to the troubled eurozone countries – nobody in the right frame of mind would.

If Germany has to cause inflation by, as you say, increasing wages then you make it worse. You kill the messenger. Then there's nobody left to bail out the stupid ones (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 3).
You write Germany can borrow cheap and profit from the weakness of their neighbours. Why is that situation now as it is? Because their neighbours overspend in the past. And what happens if you spend too much, you get weak, can't meet your obligations and have to look for help. Start to look who hit first.
So the problem is not that Germany is competitive. The others could not control themselves and Greek is even worse: they lied themselves into the euro. The solution is in the short term is to find others to bail out the sinners (and that is not easy) and in the long term to put a tight control over the economic activities of all the members and that is not easy either because that becomes political and the majority of them act only in their own interest.

What would have happened if somebody else and not Germany and the rest of "wealthy Europe" lent the money to Greece for their overspending (An EU fix stuck at German denial, February 2). Would they have to accept higher inflation as well, so easy?
As one commentator wrote above, memories are long and I still have German postage stamps in my collection showing it cost you around $20 billion to send a letter in the later 1920s.