The Greek story seems connected in many people’s minds with the stories of the real-estate and stock-market bubbles that preceded the current crisis in 2007. These asset bubbles were inflated by lax lending standards and an excessive willingness to borrow, which seemed similar to the Greek government’s willingness to take on debt to pay lavish pensions.
在许多人心目中，希腊故事似乎与2007年危机之前的房地产和股票市场泡沫联系在一起。这些资产泡沫是由宽松的贷款标准以及过度的贷款意愿支撑起来的，而这似乎跟希腊政府借款来支付慷慨养老金的意愿非常相似。因此人们不仅将希腊危机视为一个象征，还将其看作是一个道德故事。后果自然就是对政府紧缩政策予以支持，而该政策只能令事情雪上加霜。