Greece has exited its bailout, a symbolic move past the debt crisis that exploded eight years ago and transformed the country's economy and the lives of its people. At the time of the May 2010 aid package - the first of three - politicians from euro-area creditor countries argued that the crisis was the result of chronic fiscal and economic indiscipline. To justify breaching a "no bailout clause", loans were tied to strict conditions covering everything from government spending to public administration and justice. So how has Greece performed? Greece's crash rippled far beyond its borders, but the effect at home was particularly dramatic. Economic output fell by a quarter and living standards collapsed after the loss of more than a million jobs pushed unemployment at one point to 28%. The Greek leg of the global financial crisis was sparked when George Papandreou's newly elected government revealed that the country had misled the world about its finances and the 2009 budget deficit ...
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