More austerity won't help a Greece on the brink

'Don't you think they want us to fail?" That's the question I kept hearing during a brief but intense visit to Athens. My answer was that there is no "they" - that Greece does not, in fact, face a solid bloc of implacable creditors who would rather see default and exit from the euro than let a leftist government succeed, that there's more goodwill on the other side of the table than many Greeks suppose.

But you can understand why Greeks see things that way. And I came away from the visit fearing that Greece and Europe may suffer a terrible accident, an unnecessary rupture that will cast long shadows over the future.

The story so far: At the end of 2009, Greece faced a crisis driven by two factors: High debt, and inflated costs and prices that left the country uncompetitive.