European finance ministers secretly met in Luxembourg this week on fears that Greece is reaching a breaking point ...
... amid swirling rumors that Greece wants to leave the Euro.
Finance ministers from an inner core of eurozone countries were holding secret talks in Luxembourg tonight to discuss a possible debt restructuring for crisis-ridden Greece.
The single currency's leading creditor nations – Germany, France, Finland and the Netherlands – all attended the meeting, called amid concerns that Greece's problems were nearing breaking point.
...
On the foreign exchanges, reports that Greece would be the first country to quit the single currency led to a sharp sell-off of the euro against the dollar. Spiegel Online, quoting German government sources, said that Greece would leave the euro unless it was allowed to restructure its massive debts. Greek officials categorically denied the report with many describing it as a "joke".
Greece.
Needs.
To.
Restructure.
Its.
Debt.
Yes -- this would be a default -- not a wholesale dismissal of Greece's debt commitments, but rather a renegotiation of terms under which Greece has to pay back its lenders.
What the banks and other European leaders wanted was for Greece to pay in full while its economy suffered the crippling effects of punishing austerity measures.
This just doesn't work.
Greece can't pay -- it needs to restructure its debt -- and/or leave the single European currency.