Wall St. Helped to Mask Debts Shaking Europe

[jannyk]

Source: NYT

Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts.

As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels.

Even as the crisis was nearing the flashpoint, banks were searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning. In early November — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in the ancient city with a very modern proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting.

It had worked before. In 2001, just after Greece was admitted to Europe’s monetary union, Goldman helped the government quietly borrow billions, people familiar with the transaction said. That deal, hidden from public view because it was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan, helped Athens to meet Europe’s deficit rules while continuing to spend beyond its means.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/global/14debt.html

---

Good ole Goldman - the best Grifters in the world!

[aquart]

1. We need to send guilotine specs out for competitive bidding.

The blade needs to be stainless steel, right?

[unabelladonna]

4. great minds think alike

n/t

[Po_d Mainiac]

7. :FRSP:

Credit the idea to Demeter

[Big_Mike]

22. Simplify, people. Simplify

Tree

Rope

Financier


Some assembly required!

[Po_d Mainiac]

28. The FRSP is truely portable....Trees ain't :grin:

[WestSeattle2]

13. I'll write the specs and have them ready Monday morning. n/t

[UpInArms]

2. have I said how much I hate Goldman Sachs lately?

oh, well, yes, I have - see my sig line

[Robbien]

5. Note that the headline says Wall St. not Goldman Sachs

Goldman even has the NYT intimidated enough to not mention Goldman in the title. The article is ABOUT Goldman for pete's sake.

Blood sucking vampire

[UpInArms]

10. and the exposure of that fear is in your sig line

and, so, you understand that fear will freeze even the strongest of voices

stifled and silenced because all that money means all that power

this is all so wrong and no one will stand before the tempest

they all think that their silence will protect any of them

how silly

(edited because my figners are dyslectic)

[No Elephants]

25. Nice catch.

[No Elephants]

23. As to free markets, I cannot agree, though.

[jwirr]

3. All this secrecy is bad for the country. I know when I ask for the truth

I am told that the people cannot handle it but on the other hand all this secrecy is what is making us so unsure about the future of banks and even our own lives. Every time we hear another coverup we grab our purses a little closer to the chest.

[TheWatcher]

8. Most people don't want to know how deep the Rabbit Hole goes.

Why do you think the Propaganda Blitz of the last 11 months has been so successful in hypnotizing and brainwashing the Public into believing we are in a "Recovery"?

Maybe if people knew they couldn't handle it, but to that I say we probably need to toughen up a little, and pay attention if we are to ever have any hope of a future that isn't being run by gangs of criminals and oligarchs.

The Government is plenty to blame here as well, as their "Economic Data", if one can still refer to it as that without hysterically laughing, is about as reliable as Pinto that has been set on fire.

Here is a horrifying thought you might want to keep close to your chest, along with your purse.

We had better HOPE that The Government has the REAL Economic Numbers from the past two decades stashed around somewhere, because if We The People ever decide to take our country back, in order to move forward economically, we are going to need access to that information.

Otherwise, we won't have any real, actual historical data to go by to know how bad things truly are, were, or how far we have to go to fix it.

This whole country's current existence is based on lies and secrecy.

And that needs to Change.

Otherwise, we WILL go the way of every other Empire that has come before us.

And even if we can turn things around, maybe it would be better for our futures if we did go the way of those other Empires, so we can become something better.

This Dream Is OVER.

[sendero]

11. What is truly amazing..

... is the fact that while our economic future hangs by a literal thread most Americans are blissfully unaware.

Yes, it is that bad, and even here most don't get it. What can be done?

[TheWatcher]

12. I'm not sure sendero. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him THINK.

If the people don't want to know, and refuse to see, then all the knowledge, exposing, and shedding light on these criminals is simply not going to work.

As long as the majority plays along nothing can change.

I'm as frustrated as you are, because I don't know what can be done either.

We MAY have to accept at some point that we are Witnesses to History, and hope that some future generation will succeed by not wanting to fail.

In the meantime, we must remain vigilant, even in the face of impossible odds.

It's a Hell Of A Lot Better than giving up. :)

Might even be fun. :)

[No Elephants]

24. How is accepting that we are witnesses different from giving up?

Sorry. I don't seem to be following what you said.

[TheWatcher]

32. If you think for one minute that I am now, or will ever give up, you could live a thousand years

and never know the FIRST thing about me.

EVEN IF I could do no better than be a witness to history in the end, I would never silence my voice, never give up, and never give in.

Those who can see the true nature of what is going on must do everything they can to RESIST.

No matter what form of Resistance that takes.

My attitude is, even if we lose, we go down swinging.

And we keep our voices heard, we keep shining the light on the Truth, and never let it disappear.

Because one day there WILL be a generation that will stand up and say ENOUGH

Even if it doesn't happen in our lifetimes, the Resistance we show now will pave the way for the future.

You can think about me what you like. I KNOW who I am.

And even though we don't always see eye to eye, we both want the same thing.

Good Night, And Good Luck To You. :)

[Downwinder]

6. My Grandfather said "don't borrow money. But, if you have to borrow,

borrow enough so they can't afford to shut you down."

He kept manufacturing through the Depression.

[FreakinDJ]

9. Just when you think they can't be any more EVIL

Thank Goodness we have the RATpubliCONs to filibuster any meaningful Wall St Regulatory Reforms

:sarcasm:

[No Elephants]

26. What Wall St. regulatory reforms have Democrats attempted since the meltdown?

And who was in control of Congress when Congress failed to put adequate safeguards in the TARP or in credit card reform?

You know, during the whole year they had the White House, 60 votes in the Senate and a large majority in the House?

Who said he wanted repeal of Glass Steagall done and on his desk as soon as possible?

This Republican Democrat stuff is valid sometimes.

At other times, it is starting to seem to me a lot like the fake war in the novel 1984.

Often the situation seems to me more like the American public vs. the companies that own the politicians of BOTH Parties.

If you misdiagnose, you mistreat. We were under the impression that Bush and the Republicans caused all our problems, so we donated and worked and voted to "change" all that. A year later, guess what? We still have problems--and I don't mean only the problems that are the inevitable result of what Republicans did.

[skoalyman]

14. Just when you think they couldnt get worser

then they are now.They go pull another skeleton out of the closet,god lord they are beyond criminals.They are the definition of greed and selfishness.

[tpsbmam]

15. Wall St. Helped Greece to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis

Source: NY Times

Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts.

As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels.

Even as the crisis was nearing the flashpoint, banks were searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning. In early November — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in the ancient city with a very modern proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting.

The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing instrument that would have pushed debt from Greece’s health care system far into the future, much as when strapped homeowners take out second mortgages to pay off their credit cards.

It had worked before. In 2001, just after Greece was admitted to Europe’s monetary union, Goldman helped the government quietly borrow billions, people familiar with the transaction said. That deal, hidden from public view because it was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan, helped Athens to meet Europe’s deficit rules while continuing to spend beyond its means.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/global/14debt.html?hp

---

I'm speechless at this point. It just never ends -- is the US now destined to not only bring its own downfall but that of countries it's enveloped in our boundless greed, corruption, shortsightedness & stupidity? Look at what the enrichment of a few in the US has done and is doing to the world. I want to love my country, but it's pretty tough these days.

[elleng]

16. I agree. Chances international community will prohibit bad financial stuff?

[Confusious]

17. More criminality from wall street?

Who'd have thunk it?

[TheWatcher]

33. No, No, No, it's just Business As Usual and one more stepping stone of evidence that "The Recovery"

Is alive and well.

Nothing To See Here.

Back to sleep now Citizen.

Only 40 More Shopping Hours till American Idol, and we should all be rested!

Is it Fascism Yet?

[DeSwiss]

18. Ahhh.....

...I see that another Goldman-Sachs Ponzi Scheme Special is about to implode on another country.

- I don't think people realize that these bastards aren't going to stop until we make them.

K&R

[meowomon]

19. I wonder if Obama will ever begrudge them their bonuses

Maybe some day after they are all locked up in a nice cushy white collar prison.

[No Elephants]

27. IIRC, AIG some bonuses were reduced and people who had been promised them sued.

The time to deal with that was before passing the TARP, when these clowns were all shaking in their boots that they would not have jobs, but would be standing on bread lines.

They should have been told to give up their contractual rights to huge bonuses or try to find work elsewhere. That should have been the case of every firm and bank that got bailed out. But, Dodd tried to do a little something and Geithner stopped him.

And my guess is that Dodd probably would not even have tried if his poll numbers had not already been in the hopper before then.

[Goldstein1984]

20. "I'm speechless at this point. It just never ends..."

That's it in a nutshell--It just never ends. Every time it feels like there's some reason for hope, another little fact comes along to steal the moment away, and hope is replaced with contempt for those who steal the hope.

The enrichment of the few...the impoverishment of the many...third-rate politicians corrupted by power and too stupid to carry their authority lightly...an immoral ruling class too arrogant to trouble themselves with concealing their contempt for the working class...promises made and broken...and just enough of a loyal following in both political parties to ensure that mediocrity is celebrated and perpetuated while dissent is condemned and suppressed.

As John F. Kennedy said, and as Martin Luther King quoted, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." Jefferson warned that fear of government by the people leads to tyranny, and that liberty requires that the government fear the citizens. Our government does not fear us, and nothing else will change until that does.

I both fear and desire what is coming.

[Triana]

21. That's their M.O. and nobody's stopping them. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. +10

[Mudoria]

34. So you absolve Greece from the shennaigans?

Takes two to tango and it seems the Greeks were more than willing partners.

[Blue_Tires]

30. k+r

[defendandprotect]

31. Late K&R --