In 1922, Greek armies trying to conquer western Anatolia were routed by Turkey's military leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks were uprooted from Ionian coastal areas.

After this debacle, Greek officers took three former prime ministers, a general and two other politicians who had led the Turkish-Greek War and shot them. Greeks cheered.

Many Greeks today must be wishing to see similar punishment inflicted on their politicians and bankers who were responsible for the nation's bankruptcy and staggering $500 billion debt.

For decades, Greece's conservatives and Socialist parties alike bought votes by dishing out the very cushy, do-nothing government jobs, high pensions, and benefits that brought Greece to its knees. Call it state sponsored laziness.