During the long night of negotiations in Brussels on July 12-13 over Greece, the dream died of Europe as a family enterprise based on solidarity-in-diversity and advancing to an ever more perfect union of hope, democracy and prosperity. Shakespeare's tragedies may have drawn inspiration more from ancient Rome than Greece. Yet in "Hamlet," Polonius offers apposite advice: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."
The Greek tragedy has unfolded in three acts.
Act One: Greece Greece in effect cheated its way into European Union membership (with the rest of Europe knowingly turning a blind eye); it overspent its way to financial ruin; it must now bleed its way back to economic stability. The crisis has been a remarkably vivid demonstration of the truth of Margaret Thatcher's adage that the problem with socialism is, eventually you run out of other people's money to spend.
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