Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announces Greece's
decision to request activation of a joint eurozone-International
Monetary Fund financial rescue plan, from the Greek Aegean
island of Kastellorizo, April 23, 2010. "Why Greece Will
Default" Op-Ed, Project Syndicate April 28, 2010 Author: Martin
Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard
University CAMBRIDGE - Greece will default on its national debt.
That default will be due in large part to its membership in the
European Monetary Union. If it were not part of the euro system,
Greece might not have gotten into its current predicament and,
even if it had gotten into its current predicament, it could
have avoided the need to default. Greece's default on its
national debt need not mean an explicit refusal to make
principal and interest payments when they come due. More likely
would be an IMF-organized restructuring of the existing debt,
swapping new bonds with lower principal and interest for
existing bonds. Or it could be a "soft defaul