So Greece might not collapse into oblivion after all

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NEED TO KNOW:

It looks like Greece might not collapse into oblivion after all. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has submitted a reform plan that would include some tough austerity measures — including higher taxes and cuts to pensions — in return for nearly $60 billion more in bailout funds.

If its creditors accept the deal, which seems possible now, it would bring the total bailout given to Greece since 2010 to almost $300 billion. That's a lot of money. And, as part of the deal, Greece is asking its creditors to consider restructuring the debt and even writing down some of it.

Such a thing has been fiercely rejected by Germany, which stands to lose the most if Greece defaults on its loans. But the other leading European power in the debt talks — France — has been more amenable to forgiving some of Greece's debt and helped Greece formulate its latest plan. Many European leaders say there is enough compromise from both sides in the latest plan that it could pass.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained resistant to writing off some of Greece's debt in comments she made on Thursday, she appeared willing to entertain other relief measures like lower interest rates or longer payment periods.

Tsipras will now have to take this proposal to his own parliament to seek approval, which is no easy task. He will face opposition from members of his own party, which came to power promising to fight against the punishing austerity inflicted on it by Greek creditors. He will take the proposal to parliament today. And European leaders are expected to meet on Saturday.

It's likely a deal will be in place before the end of the weekend and all those doomsday scenarios will be forgotten. Then maybe we can pay more attention to China, which has lost 10 times the amount of Greek's debt in less than a month.

WANT TO KNOW:

Yep, in a massive, panic-driven sell-off, China's stock market — the Shanghai Composite Index — has lost more than $3 trillion. That means its fallen more than 30 percent in less than a month. And the Shenzhen index, meanwhile, is down about 40 percent from its record high in June.

China's stock market is in free fall — and the government seems powerless to stop it. It all started when the Chinese government cracked down on so-called margin trading, which is when investors use borrowed money to buy stocks.

While the world freaks out about Greece, a tiny country with very little economic clout, some are starting to wonder if we should be shifting focus toward China, which is the world's second-largest economy. China has been the largest contributor to global growth in the last decade. Greece barely registers.

The Chinese government is clearly aware of the seriousness of the problem and has moved quickly to try and stabilize the markets. But its efforts aren't working and are, in fact, only confirming to everyone that there is a panic, which is further driving the sell off among Chinese.

GlobalPost's Allison Jackson put together these crazy numbers to help you understand just how big a problem this could become in the coming weeks.

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Americans need to work longer hours to improve the economy. But not everyone agrees with that, including manyAmerican workers, but especially the Dutch.

Almost 150 years ago people in the Netherlands worked longer than anyone. Then the government began to think better of it. These days the Dutch essentially work a four-day work-week. It's nearly standard to have Fridays off. That means right now many Dutch aren't working. Instead they are biking fashionably past fields of flowers to their favorite quaint coffee shop, or whatever else it is that the Dutch do.

So what about the Dutch economy? How's it doing? Pretty darn well. “This reduction of working hours coincided with economic progress,” says the International Labor Organization. And, on top of that, the Dutch are a consistently happy bunch. Hmmm.