system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why did the greek economy collapse?

Hello everyone. I am a journalism student, currently working on a project about Greece. I want to explain the greek economic crisis as simple as possible. I am finding it hard to understand it, thus I can't explain it properly. I would greatly appreciate if someone could help me out! 

I also want to challenge your creativity a bit: Is it possible explain the greek economic crisis using a simple analogy? i.e "Tony has 10 apples, and borrows 10 more from a friend". 

Edit: The question is regarding modern Greece, and the crisis they are currently in.
gpt
Very simply:

The Greek banks had borrowed large amounts of money during the economic boom years, which was used to finance a huge construction boom in Greece. Like many other banks all over the world, their collateral for the debts included large numbers of repackaged sub-prime mortgage debts from the USA.

When the sub-prime bubble burst and the credit crunch set in, many of the Greek banks (along with many other banks all over the world) suddenly found themselves unable to borrow enough money to finance their day-to-day outgoings. In plain simple terms, they were bankrupt.

The government of Greece decided it couldn't afford to allow many of its biggest banks to go under, so loaned them the money to keep trading. As a comparatively small economy the Greek government could only do this by borrowing money itself. Presumably they expected the recession to last only a short time, and then once economic growth returned they could afford to pay back the loans.

However as we know the recession wasn't short-lived, and the organisations which had lent money to the Greek government started wanting to be repaid. But the global economic situation, together with a traditionally large and generous public-sector employee count and a widespread culture of tax evasion, meant the Greek government didn't have enough money to pay back the people it owed.

So effectively the Greek government bailed out its banks and in the process bankrupted itself.

Greece's creditors have agreed to write off large amounts of the loans, and to defer repayment on much of the rest, but the penalty they've imposed on Greece for doing this is for it to make its economy much more competitive. Effectively the Greek government has been ordered to reduce public pensions, reduce salaries and increase taxation, and the result of this "shock treatment" has been to cause a huge increase in unemployment and a huge contraction of the Greek economy.