As Good as it Got

Greece has had a great run. It cheated its way into the Euro, borrowed way too much money for rates way too low for such an irresponsible country (courtesy of being in the Euro that was anchored by much stronger economies), it allowed its citizens to retire early with generous pensions, it subsidized enormously unprofitable industries without thought for sustainability (think public trains), it allowed its entire cabinet to cheat property taxes, didn't chase tax evaders, and on and on.

Here's some data showing why the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain are in trouble now.

Apparently, labor costs impact international trade competitiveness:

Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/05/daily-chart-13