February 27, 2012, Standard & Poor’s declares Greece to be in default!  S&P’s blamed it on the debt restructuring deal currently being negotiated.

Greek officials say they were expecting it. Other credit rating agencies are expected to do the same thing.  This makes Greece the first European Union member to default.

S&P’s explained that loan contracts state that loan restructuring is condition for default status: “As we have previously stated, we may view an issuer’s unilateral change of the original terms and conditions of an obligation as a de facto restructuring and thus a default by Standard & Poor’s published definition.”