- The EU was aware that Greece's finances were not as portrayed. This was an open secret. However, Germany and France were breaking max deficit rules at the time, and they would look like huge hypocrites if they complained about Greece's numbers. So they didn't. Rose colored glasses and political expedience played a huge role here.
- A country can't go bankrupt. They can simply refuse to pay their debts, and because they're a sovereign nation they're in their right to do so.
- When banks lend money to a country it isn't charity. They get interest payments and in exchange risk not getting paid back at all if things go sour. It was astoundingly unwise for banks to lend money to Greece at practically zero interest (as they did during the boom period). Had the banks been responsible, or had the oversight institutions not been asleep at the wheel, this crisis would not have happened.
- The banks who lent to Greece got 90% of the bailout package. Not the people of Greece. So it's not true Greece received "several hundred billion in aid".
- "Some would say it is doubtful whether they are actually effective at all.". It's certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that the austerity policies enforced by the troika were actively harmful. It's delusional to pretend otherwise, given that the GDP shrank so much the debt burden INCREASED as a result.
