How Greece went from victory to economy-destroying defeat

``Greece got to this point because it believed what was either a lie or a misconception. That was the left-wing Syriza party's promise that it could end austerity without ending Greece's euro membership. This was not true. Why not? Well, because Europe has total power over Greece, and Greece has no power over it. Greece's banks rely on emergency loans from the European Central Bank to stay afloat--loans that would be cut off if Greece's government doesn't do what Europe wants. That would leave Athens with bankrupt banks that would either need to be bailed in by taking money from depositors or bailed out by leaving the euro and printing the money that was needed. And this was not a bluff. The ECB actually did pull enough of the plug on Greece's banks after the referendum was announced that they had to close for now, but not so much that they had to close for good. That made the threat clear enough.'' -- We think this para is accurate, but the later one where the author asserts that there would be no contagion from a Grexit is less certain; there certainly would be major ramifications for European sovereigns... and what would flow from that is unknown....