Also, Germany have already went through their austerity measures.
When?
SPD government in the early 2000s under Gerhard Shroeder.
If Greece had an enormous trade surplus, they too would be able to engage in a little pro-cyclical austerity. Of course, this would require major inflation in Germany, which they won't accept.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/german-adjustment/The comic is based on a survey, which asked the citizens of several European nations to name the country they believed to be the most “hard-working.” Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, and the Czech Republic were all unanimous: it was the Germans. Only the Greeks dissented. Greece was the hardest-working country, they said.
Link to survey:
http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/05/29/european-unity-on-the-rocks/Links to articles about the Greek economic situation and its roots:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/europe/the-roots-of-the-greek-tragedy-bloated-bureaucracy-and-tax-evasion/article2056715/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/07/greek-debt-crisis-jobshttp://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010?printable=truehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/world/europe/greeces-bloated-bureaucracy-defies-efforts-to-cut-it.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all the two biggest problems are tax evasion and their bloated public sector bureucracy
Greece has the one of the smallest public sectors in Europe, much smaller than Germany. Tax evasion is a problem, though not a serious one (compare Greece to Spain, which has no structural deficit at all). The substantial budgetary problems are caused by 1) mass unemployment caused by the Bush Recession, 2) deflation caused by Germany and 3) a massive trade deficit caused by Germany. Austerity makes all of those problem worse, making Greece's deficit much higher, even in the short run.
Ultimately, Germany has to accept some responsibility for fixing the crisis, accepting much higher inflation (particularly in wages) and a trade deficit. Or, if Germany refuses to be responsible, Greece will leave the Euro (at vast cost to Germany) and force them to be responsible.