The New York Times has a lengthy, heart rending account of the suffering Greeks are going through as their economy collapses, money disappears, businesses close, and their ability merely to survive faces increasing risks. More here from The Guardian on the collapse of health care system.

If there had been an equivalent natural catastrophe — a massive tsunami or earthquake — the response to the human suffering on this scale would, one hopes, be entirely different. Whatever else y0u do, you save the people first.

But this human catastrophe — with echoes in Spain, Portugal, Ireland — was entirely man made by Europe’s financial elites.

With apologies to Wisconsin, we’re a little less than two weeks away from the most important election of the year. It’s happening in Greece, where you have a contest that will likely determine the future of that country, and by proxy the future of Europe. The far-left Syriza party and the center-right New Democracy have been locked in a tight struggle for weeks in this second-round Parliamentary election.

French President Francois Holland offers a different manner of thinking on the euro crisis, away from austerity and toward integration through eurobonds, fiscal transfers and economic growth. On the first part, however, Germany has all but ruled out eurobonds, which would create collective credit risk across the Eurozone.

Alexis Tsipras, the head of the Syriza Party in Greece, is making public appearances in Paris to convince other nations to call the bluff of EU leaders on whether they will “force” Greece out of the Eurozone in the event of a Syriza victory on June 17.