Greece, Oh Greece.

What's the big deal with Greece? They can't pay their bills? Then let them go bankrupt. Right? Well, actually there's a little more to it than that. OK, so maybe Spain and Portugal and maybe even Ireland could go down too. So what? Well for starters, if those four were all to go under, then other countries with large debt loads like for instance, oh I don't know, like America, could be at risk. Here's what happens. People, well actually, large banks and investment funds and the like, make loans to countries. They pick countries because countries are safe investments. But if suddenly, lending to countries wasn't so safe, they might look for even safer bets. Like Gold or companies like Exxon with it's giant profits. When the lenders won't lend, then the countries won't have the money they need to carry them until payday ( tax day). That's when the countries go bankrupt. It wouldn't be pretty. In fact it might get down right ugly. Because the countries and companies that own that debt will find themselves in trouble. Suddenly the likes of China would be in financial trouble. That's because if America went bankrupt, China wouldn't get paid for all of the money it has loaned us. Lots of things would hit the fan. None of it nice stuff. Back to Greece. If they get the loans they need to stave off bankruptcy, what's to say they won't keep making the same mistakes? There's the rub.