(N)o country can be expected to generate huge primary surpluses for long periods for the benefit of foreign creditors. Meeting debt burdens at rates the official sector — let alone the private sector — is charging for credit would involve burdens on Greece, Ireland and Portugal comparable to the reparations’ burdens that John Maynard Keynes warned about in “The Economic Consequences of the Peace.”The reparations he's talking about were the consequence of World War I where the victorious nations imposed a monstrous fine on the Germans to pay for the war. Here's the comparison:
Me paying back money I borrowed to get goodies I wanted to hand out = you demanding I pay a penalty for having started a war.
Right.