system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 - The situation in Greece/the EU right now

Last thread about this was two years ago, I think an update is due.


Why are they the only country that is still in such deep shit while countries like Portugal and Italy pulled through?  
(Maybe this is false but Greece is the only country you ever hear about so I assume the others overcame the crisis)

What kind of consequences would a "Grexit" have for Greece? Surely they would only shoot themselves in the foot with that?

Does the rest of the EU really still care about "confidence in the Euro" wavering if Greece leaves?

Is it likely that countries like Italy, France and Portugal would follow Greece? Why would that be so bad?

Is it likely that Russia and Greece will team up? What are the chances of both of them, economically unstable countries as far as I know, succeeding together?
gpt
In order, here are answers to your 5 questions.

1: Greece is not at all the only country in deep shit. They are just in the deepest shit. As of last summer, they had a debt to gdp ratio (amount of money they owe, compared to the value of all the goods and services they produce in a year) of 174%. Portugal, by comparison, was only at 126%. Italy was at north of 132%. (Incidentally, the US is also north of 100%, but they are much better off, because according to labor rates and productivity, the US economy is humming along, while Greece continues to be in a recession.) So they're an easy country for the media to talk about because they're the worst off. They would be the first domino to fall.

2: A Grexit would, a majority of economists agree, be terrible for Greece. Because they're so deep in debt and unable to pay, they would have to 'default' on their debt, which is basically just like declaring bankruptcy. So people who loaned Greece money would get only a fraction or nothing back, and in the future, no one would be willing to lend Greece money. Which would mean the government would be unable to provide all kinds of services, and people would lose government jobs, their pensions, etc. It would be bad. Additionally, the ECB (European central bank) has said they will not allow Greece to keep using the Euro if they leave, so they would have to create a new currency which would have little to no value outside of Greece, since they're bankrupt.

3 and 4: Hypothetically, if it were possible for Greece to leave and not bring anyone else down with them, then the EU would not care about Greece leaving, and there would be no threat to the Euro. However, remember how when Greece leaves they declare bankruptcy and their creditors don't get their money back? Well, guess who some of their biggest creditors are. The Eurozone owns more than 80% of the tens of billions of dollars loaned to Greece. That includes groups like the ECB and the IMF, but also countries like Italy, Portugal, Spain, etc. So Greece is a "contagion risk," because if they go bust, then all of the sudden the other countries on shaky ground are that much closer to being bankrupt themselves. Italy, Portugal, and Spain NEED the money loaned to Greece (and to each other) to come back to them in order to pay their debts. If they all were to default, France and Germany would also be in trouble (although, they could survive). So the EU definitely would care about confidence in the Euro in that pessimistic scenario.

5: It is beyond unlikely that Greece and Russia would team up. What a crazy event that would be. Neither country would have a lot to gain, since what they both need most is cash-rich investors. Also, sometimes Russia isn't a very good team player.