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Ask the Greeks how that turned out.

by leshow 2y ago

DrNosferatu 2y ago
That was a smokescreen to bailout (a second time) indebted French and German banks: https://www.corpwatch.org/article/eurozone-profiteers-how-german-and-french-banks-helped-bankrupt-greece https://www.corpwatch.org/article/eurozone-profiteers-how-ge... Also, economist Mark Blyth has written extensively about this.
- TacticalCoder 2y ago
  > That was a smokescreen ... Yes and no. Yes it was a bail out of others. But Greece was 175% in debt. That's not the fault of the banks who lent money to Greece. FWIW it's widely documented too that, from the start, Greece cheated to get in the EU / Eurozone, with the help of one of the big four accounting firm, by completely cooking its book to hide how bad the economical situation of Greece was. So, yup, sure, "evil bankers". But somehow the greek government managed to reach a debt of 175% of its GDP. That's not the fault of capitalism / finance: that's the fault of government overspending.
  - DrNosferatu 2y ago
    Sure, there was this service to embellish the books provided by Goldman Sachs. But moving on from moral arguments, the crux is that only some 5% of the bailout money actually stayed in Greece [1]. Furthermore, it takes two to tango: the banks did not diversify their debt portfolio [2], they lent because they wanted to, and, knew Greek debt implied higher risk. After all, that’s why these loans commanded a higher interest compared to other sovereign debt. [1] https://amp.dw.com/en/most-of-greek-bailout-money-went-to-banks-study/a-19234391 https://amp.dw.com/en/most-of-greek-bailout-money-went-to-ba... [2] https://econreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/a-tale-of-two-countries-a-history-of-the-greek-debt-crisis/ https://econreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/a-tale-of-two-cou...
    - DrNosferatu 2y ago
      PS: Don’t get me wrong, pay to cook the books is totally on the Greek government.
- DrNosferatu 2y ago
  An important question also is: - Should the population that voted for a crooked, even criminal, government suffer all the consequences from its actions?

Ask the Greeks how that turned out.

by leshow 2y ago

Ask the Greeks how that turned out.

That was a smokescreen to bailout (a second time) indebted French and German banks: https://www.corpwatch.org/article/eurozone-profiteers-how-german-and-french-banks-helped-bankrupt-greece https://www.corpwatch.org/article/eurozone-profiteers-how-ge... Also, economist Mark Blyth has written extensively about this.

TacticalCoder 2y ago
> That was a smokescreen ... Yes and no. Yes it was a bail out of others. But Greece was 175% in debt. That's not the fault of the banks who lent money to Greece. FWIW it's widely documented too that, from the start, Greece cheated to get in the EU / Eurozone, with the help of one of the big four accounting firm, by completely cooking its book to hide how bad the economical situation of Greece was. So, yup, sure, "evil bankers". But somehow the greek government managed to reach a debt of 175% of its GDP. That's not the fault of capitalism / finance: that's the fault of government overspending.
- DrNosferatu 2y ago
  Sure, there was this service to embellish the books provided by Goldman Sachs. But moving on from moral arguments, the crux is that only some 5% of the bailout money actually stayed in Greece [1]. Furthermore, it takes two to tango: the banks did not diversify their debt portfolio [2], they lent because they wanted to, and, knew Greek debt implied higher risk. After all, that’s why these loans commanded a higher interest compared to other sovereign debt. [1] https://amp.dw.com/en/most-of-greek-bailout-money-went-to-banks-study/a-19234391 https://amp.dw.com/en/most-of-greek-bailout-money-went-to-ba... [2] https://econreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/a-tale-of-two-countries-a-history-of-the-greek-debt-crisis/ https://econreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/a-tale-of-two-cou...
  - DrNosferatu 2y ago
    PS: Don’t get me wrong, pay to cook the books is totally on the Greek government.
DrNosferatu 2y ago
An important question also is: - Should the population that voted for a crooked, even criminal, government suffer all the consequences from its actions?