[caption id="attachment_3535" align="alignleft" width="209"] Kari Travis | 2014[/caption]

Behind The Times

Kari Travis | Managing Editor

Greece isn't bankrupt yet, but its economy is bonkers. And not in a good way. If you've kept track of headlines in recent months,

then you've undoubtedly picked up on the frightening economic crisis that has the eurozone in a tizzy. But a scenic tour through Greece's economic background may lend clarity to the issues and provide insights that could shock you.

Let's break into the vault and break down the issue, shall we?

In the late 1990s, when the euro was introduced as a form of currency, prospective European Union member states were required to meet a specific set of terms involving budget deficits, inflation and interest rates. Think of it like an entrance exam.

An exam that Greece failed.

We don't have time here to get into the gritty details of why Greece was such a poor test-taker, but we can take into account the state's unstable economic history. The current freefall of the Greek budget isn't the first financial flop on the country's record. In fact, Greece's economy has literally tumbled into ruin five times during the modern era alone, according to Forbes Magazine. These periods of debt total to 90 years of economic hardship, or 50 percent of the total time-span of Greece's independence as a country.

With such a terrible track record to account for, one could ask how the country ended up eventually scoring a high enough grade to be admitted into the eurozone at all. The answer is quite simple.

Greece cheated.

Budget deceptions were uncovered in 2004, revealing that the Greek government had worked the system so that the currency bloc entered in the euro-entry exam did not reflect its high deficit of gross domestic product, according to an archived report from Bloomberg. And investigations from the European Commission have since uncovered that the Greek budget failed to meet European Union limit requirements every single year since its acceptance into the euro system.

"There should have been better monitoring, better scrutiny and more sanctioning," said former European Central Bank Chief Economist Otmar Issing in a Copenhagen interview. "This crisis wasn't unavoidable."

And speaking of a crisis, let's get back to that pesky question regarding how the Greek economy ended up spinning full circle into the crater of debt that currently defines its existence.

According to Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the answer is more practical than profound. "Greece was living beyond its means even before

it joined the euro," Samaras told the BBC. "After it adopted a single currency, public spending soared." Wages within the public sector spiked 50 percent between 1999 and 2007, Samaras said.

And although money continued pouring from the government's wallet, tax evasion was on the rise. The ever-widening deficit quickly turned into a steep and slippery slope.

But here's the real plot twist.

When debt levels shot to an all-time high and Greece was too financially frazzled to repay its loans, it turned to the only savior it had: European partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But like the story often goes, one loan led to another, that led to another, and . . . well, you get the point. And as if that series of handouts wasn't enough of a concern, the loans also came packaged with conditions that would only hurt Greece more in the end.

To ensure that the Greek government would exhibit more responsibility with the loaned money than it had with its own capital, the EU and IMF required that the government implement austerity measures that included spending cuts and tax hikes, among other policies.

And then came the sucker-punch.

Such "austere" actions had precisely the opposite of the desired effect on Greece's economy, according to Samaras. The slippery slope soon turned into an avalanche as Greece's inability to pay-up drug down the already flagging economies of other countries in the EU, according to a BBC news business report.

Now let's get down to the deal behind the times in Greece.

Past political and financial dealings have constructed a wobbly foundation for the country. The decided lack of both integrity and responsibility is, it's safe to say, problematic. And things will only get worse if Greece is forced to drop out of the EU.

In other words, Greece's all-expense paid membership to the EU has expired, and it's anyone's guess when or how the country will find its way around this particular test.

For more dish on the drama, visit a news source near you.

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