Greece: How Big is Their Economy?

Psst! Here's the secret about Greek debt drama

Excerpt:

The first thing to know about the Greece story is that it's not really about Greece. Not, at least, in the big financial picture, where the country's measly $242 billion economy is only a shade larger than Connecticut's, and where its debt, the equivalent of $360 billion, would be a rounding error of the nearly $18 trillion in U.S. obligations. Why Greece and its likely debt default and possible exit from the euro zone matters is as a symbol—of how far the global community will go towards rescuing Greece from its debts, and ultimately, perhaps, for whether similarly debt-laden weak sisters in the euro zone should simply leave the union, go back to their original currencies, and inflate their way out of trouble.

... Default is the simplest way out of the crisis from a financial standpoint, but the ramifications could be substantial. "If Greece were a company and it had creditors, there would be a default," Krosby said. "But it's not a company, it's a country, and even though as a country that's very small ... the fact of the matter is geopolitically it plays an important role."

... Never mind that the long-term prospects for the state to satisfy its creditors remain dubious, the markets are willing to buy into the extend-and-pretend scenario.

... "A failed outcome in Greece would also have negative implications for the rest of the euro area," Credit Suisse added. "For us, the risk of contagion would be more prevalent through the banking system than through sovereign debt. But it's important to be humble: there may be unanticipated or underappreciated channels of contagion and risk that could prove surprisingly powerful." Consider, then, the ensuing period of deals and nondeals, news of breakdowns and rumors of break-ups, to be more of the financial kabuki theater that has permeated the euro debt crisis.

Comment: Per Wiki the estimated 2015 GDP is $ 294 Billion. Image source (snap from article)