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Greece has been in the economic doghouse as of late. The Greek economy shrank 6.8 percent in 2011, and unemployment has soared more than 13 percent in the past three years from 7.7 percent in 2008 to more than 20 percent today.

Even the average news reader can understand that Greece is not in a very good spot right now.

Let me break it down into an easily understandable analogy for you: picture being in a pit of quicksand with 20-pound weights tied to your ankles. No matter how hard you try to get out, you’re going to be struggling big time.

Greece is in that pit of quicksand right now, but instead of 20-pound weights, imagine they’re 500-pound weights.

Some officials predict that if Greece stays on its current path, the Greek gross domestic product could drop 25–30 percent, which is historically unprecedented.

The country is a disaster zone right now.

Greece is entering its fifth year of recession and is placing itself on the list of the deepest economic slumps of all time.

Think of Greece as the economic version of the Chicago Cubs – in a major drought.

Greece passed an austerity plan that was welcomed by the global economy, but not so appreciated by Greek citizens. The measures of the plan include a 22 percent cut in minimum wage and 150,000 government layoffs by 2015.

With an unemployment rate that is steadily rising, no wonder Greeks have been rioting lately.

Furthermore, it used to be an unfathomable idea that Greece would be booted out of the eurozone, but now it looks like a realistic possibility. There has been a major shift from trying to save Greece, to trying to throw water on a possible fire (ok, totally unintended riot pun there), if the damage from Greece’s default becomes unsalvageable.

To make matters worse, finance ministers canceled a meeting today in Brussels to discuss Greece’s plans.  According to Nicola Mai, an economist at JPMorgan Chase in London, this decision is “very worrying,” and “reflects a growing concern amongst some euro-area countries that Greece will not abide by the conditions of the second bailout package. It appears that some euro-area countries are willing to let Greece default.”

Even United States investors are skeptical of the Grecian plan. Usually with the announcement of a plan like this, stocks would bounce nicely, especially with a combination of better-than-expected economic data from Europe and China’s support for the eurozone.  However, all three major indexes have only increased marginally.

Keep your eye on Greece over the next couple weeks. Hopefully, positive measures will be taken to get them out of this slump, but things aren’t looking good.

They say the same things about the Cubs, too.

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