Creditors are the main culprits in the Greek crisis

Greece's economic crisis is uniquely deep - deeper than the Great Depression of the last century - because Greece's creditors have been uniquely unhelpful in resolving the crisis.

The Greek government is insolvent, a point that has been clear for several years. Yet Greece's creditors have managed the crisis for the sake of their own local and short-term politics (mainly with an eye on local elections), not for the purpose of actually resolving it. Here we have a case of common knowledge that is spoken everywhere and in every medium except that of polite European politics.

The Tsipras government, after an appropriately fiery start on the debt issue, has long since played along, thereby avoiding the wrath of Greece's creditors but also failing to resolve the crisis.

The basic facts are (again) well summarized by the recent International Monetary Fund Article IV...