Greek Debt Crisis explained in 4 minutes

Five years after the crisis began financial markets around the world are still in decline and are being dragged down further by the debt crisis in Europe.  At the forefront of the debt crisis is Greece. 

Like most countries, Greece has to rely on debt to finance its spending, ie spending money it doesn't have.  Greece took advantage of the good economic times(pre-crisis) to borrow money to increase public sector wages and to spend on projects such as the 2004 olympics.  It began to run up a larger and larger deficit (the difference between what the country brings in in taxes and what it spends).  When the global crisis struck, Greece suffered.  Banks around the world began to see it as a country that may not be able to manage its money; becoming concerned that Greece could perhaps default on its loans, and eventually even go bankrupt.  To hedge againts this risk, banks started charging Greece more to borrow money which in turn exasperated the problem further.

In 2009 when the current socialist government came into power the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, announced that the previous conservative government had falsified budget figures, masking their rapidly growing debt figure. Greece was quickly cut out of the bond market and began relying on the aid of other EU countries.  This help however comes with tough conditions, Greece has promised to cut its budget deficit which has led to uproar in Athens.

This video gives a condensed and amusing insight into explaination behind the crisis in Greece.