The economic powers, especially Germany, the most powerful and richest country in the E.U., are keen to see that the Greek refuseniks don’t get their way. Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, let some of her irritation show last month in an interview with the Guardian, in which she complained about “all these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax.” That was seen as a fair charge, even though Lagarde’s own salary of close to half a million dollars comes tax free. Tax collection from the better-off sectors of the Greek population—those who take the Leona Helmsley view that taxes are for “the little people”—remains weak, and tax revenues over all fell by a third last year. Even Alexis Tsipras, the young, charismatic leader of the far-left anti-bailout Syriza coalition, implicitly endorsed Lagarde’s words, in the course of denouncing her. “Greek workers pay their taxes, which are unbearable,” he said, adding, “For tax evaders, she should turn to Pasok and New Democracy”—the two pro-mnimonio parties that have run Greece for decades—“to explain to her why they haven’t touched the big money and have been chasing the simple worker for two years.” But that’s the point. An unsustainable burden is being loaded on those sectors of the population who were already paying.