Athens’ Only Endgame

All the noise over exactly how Greece is going to not repay its debts shouldn’t conceal the central truth: The only way Greece can ever move forward is to end its culture of corruption. It’s not just Greek governments that went wrong for decades — it’s also the people who elected them.

If you keep voting for politicians who promise far more than the state can afford, the wheels eventually come off.

That’s how you wind up with decades of fraud, like that outlined in James Angelos’ “The Full Catastrophe.” Fraud like hundreds of people on a single island falsely claiming blindness to collect $ 400amonth disability pensions, or tens of thousands of cases nationwide of dead people “collecting” pension checks that actually enriched family members.

Or like vast tax evasion — just a few thousand people reporting incomes over $ 100,000 in a nation of 11 million.

Yes, blame for the current crisis stretches across Europe. ( You can’t be an irresponsible borrower without an irresponsible lender— or at least a foolish one.)

But the only people in Greece to share no blame are the children too young to vote.

The photos of despairing pensioners are heartbreaking, but the real question for the nation’s future turns on the young people in other pictures, rallying in the name of national pride: What are these Greeks going to do to build a country that’s worth being proud of?