The recently bailed-out Greek government said Monday it's turned a corner in its debilitating debt crisis, getting public spending under control though a combination of wage and pension cuts, increased tax collection, and greater efficiency. Those measures have cut Greece's budget deficit by 42 percent since January, the finance ministry says. "Greece is successfully escaping the reef of economic collapse," says government spokesman George Petalotis. Could Greece really be back on track so soon?
Greece just might pull this off: It looks like the reports of "Greece's inevitable fiscal death are somewhat exaggerated," says Michael Heise in The Wall Street Journal. Its deficit "slashing" is "proceeding faster than planned," and although its targets for 2011 are "not ambitious enough," Greece is heading into manageable fiscal waters that other nations, in worse shape, have entered safely after similar austerity programs.
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