This article tries to explain the European debt crisis on children's level. I recommend reading it - if not for new information than for useful insights. Of course, pointing the "bad guys" is something that belongs only to a story for children...
"But then deceptive politicians and greedy bankers created a fatal mess by borrowing too much money.
Politicians in places like Greece found they could stay in office by giving people public-sector jobs or by letting workers retire at 50 with hefty pensions, while not collecting enough taxes to pay for this. They spent lots more than they took in, borrowed the rest and lied about it. Government debt went through the roof without anyone knowing.
Meanwhile, Europe’s top bankers found they could get really rich if they ran their banks with as little “capital” as possible. That means that for every dollar they lent or bought in assets, they only put up a few pennies in hard cash themselves. The other 97 cents they borrowed. So if the value of the things they bought or the loans they made dropped even slightly, it would wipe out their investment, and the bank would go bust."
What the grown-up people reading this article probably realize is that there are no dragons and witches: the "greedy bankers" were merely maximizing profits of their banks - something that is natural to expect from a successful private business. Whereas "the deceptive politicians" were democratically elected by the very angry voters, who did not at all mind retiring at 50 and getting hefty pensions. And, certainly, the situation is not very different in America, who has its own "greedy bankers" and the elected politicians, eager to expand the entitlement programs.
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