krebscycle

In 2009  Greece owed €250 billion for bonds which it could not pay or even keep up with and €45 billion in other loans .  The bonds had been sold in the free market to investors (mostly banks) that believed the higher interest rate on Greek bonds justified the higher risk. Nobody bought those bonds as charity.

By 2012, the bond debt was less than €100 billion but Greece owed €200 billion in loans. Same total debt, give or take a few billion.

The majority of the debts Greece owed to bond investors had been sold by the private investors to the European Union, EU central banks and to the IMF and then turned into loans. So €150 billion went from taxpayers to private bond investors.  The major effect of the bailout was to rescue private investors from the consequences of their poor investment decisions.  Socialism for the rich. Then “the institutions"  imposed crippling taxes, cuts in public services, and radical privatization on Greece to keep their own loans current.

All through Northern Europe people think that their governments have been giving money to Greece while in reality these governments have been giving money to wealthy investors.