My Big Fat Greek Debt

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, struggling to keep his ruling Socialist coalition afloat in the persistent debt crisis Greece faces, reshuffled his cabinet and bought himself some time - but probably not enough - to reverse the country's slide into insolvency. He named Evangelos Venizelos, a former Papandreou rival, as his finance minister and as a deputy prime minister and moved current Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou to the Energy and Environment Ministry. The move to place Venizelos in charge of Greek monetary policy was widely hailed in Europe, and the leaders of France and Germany agreed on a private-public loan to help Greece in response. Venizelos is known as a tough administrator who can get a job done.

Will it help? Greece has been trying to pay its bills for more than a year and keeps running into political roadblocks, with most Greeks opposing the austerity measures needed to get the country on an even footing. Papandreou plans once again to get Parliament to approve €28 billion($39.5 billion) in spending cuts and tax increases, as demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Greece has already missed several fiscal targets to get the money it needs to keep getting bailout money, people are rioting in the streets of Athens over the proposed austerity package, and time is growing short.

Papandreou is finding out what most Westerners have already learned: This is a global recession that no one can simply "ride out" in the hope of something better when it's over.