The economic troubles of Greece have been in the news frequently in recent weeks. Its ability to recover from significant budget deficits and to pay its debts has been questioned and the government debt of Greece has been downgraded. The economy of Greece is tiny, however. The problem is that investors are concerned that other smaller European countries will reveal similar problems. Financial institutions and other private investors have become very reluctant to buy the government debt of these countries, requiring very high yields to do so. The fear is that as the problem grows, banks will become increasingly selective about lending worldwide, as they did during the subprime mortgage crisis. The clear solution is for the Greek government to cut spending, but this takes time and is politically unpopular to accomplish, while the reduced access to credit markets has already taken place. Last week, the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed on a $146 billion economic aid package for Greece to allow enough time for the country to stabilize. Still, Greek workers responded to proposed austerity measures with strikes and protests. Financial markets in Europe continued to fall as investors were skeptical that the bailout [...]