The decade that changed our country and our life

During the decade that just ended, Greece managed to deal with twin deficits that plunged the country into crisis and austerity. The country also managed to tame its public debt as, despite the fact that this grew both in size and as a percentage of gross domestic product, it is now considered to be sustainable thanks to the reduction of debt-servicing costs and the creation of a cash buffer. Yet it was a Pyrrhic victory.
Tough battle
In order to contain the mammoth current account balance deficit and to turn fiscal holes into surpluses, Greece needed to reform itself on an economic as well as a social level. The population decline, the precipitous drop in the birth rate, the aging of the population, the drastic reduction of income levels, high unemployment rates, the burdensome nonperforming loans and taxpayers' arrears to the state (all that in a context...