The Wall Street Journal
Should they stay or should
they go? Now that it's (almost) all right to admit that Greece is
insolvent, the question can now be asked: When should it default, and should it
stay inside the euro zone or not?
The first question is a lot
easier than the second. An imminent default, rumored by some on Monday, does
nobody any good. The Greek government still has a primary deficit, and can't
afford to repudiate its debts while it still can't cover its outlays with tax
revenues. It also has no guarantee that the European Central Bank would
continue to lend against defaulted Greek debt, and would have to reckon with
the risk of its banking system collapsing instantly as a result.