At some point creditors will have to take their punishment.

I remember arguing with a Duke Faculty person outside a polling station during the 2008 election that the bailouts were counterproductive, would not "save" anything and would only put off the unpleasantness.... and exacerbate it. It is like a person refusing to excise a boil until the leg must be amputated.

From the article

Dr Buiter said the rescue packages for Greece and Ireland put off the day of reckoning. At some point creditors will have to take their punishment. While Europe is now the epicentre of the debt crisis, concerns may ultimately spread to Japan and the US. "There is no such thing as an absolutely safe sovereign," he said.

Mounting calls for 'nuclear response' to save monetary union - Telegraph