From Denny: Get your crash course in crooked banking Wall Street style from your favorite comedian. He does make learning fun. Why wasn't college this entertaining?
You have all heard about how Greece is melting down financially. Recently, the European Union put on hold their $billion bailout while they await Greece to sell off some of their assets. What took the Greeks so long to get around to the obvious? They should have sold their banks and state-owned companies years ago when they were first in trouble.
If you have ever visited Greece you soon learn they have one terrific lifestyle. It's not terribly responsible on the individual level any more than on the national level. They literally party every night, spending hundreds of dollars a night. They do not save money. They don't believe in savings accounts. Amazing.
Why don't they save for that proverbial rainy day? Because they have one helluva retirement system we all would envy and start rioting to get out of our government. Get this: the Greeks get to retire at only age 53. Better yet they get to retire at the very high level of 80 percent of their income.
It's no wonder the Greeks are rioting to preserve this cushy lifestyle. Little old ladies and the young are out throwing incendiary devices and Greek yogurt at the riot police. Sort of their version of a pie in your face and rotten tomatoes.
They are country of only 11.3 million population and yet owe $481 billion in debt. That's $44,000 of debt per person. Sounds outrageous? America is over 300 million in population with $14 trillion in debt that works out to about $45,000 of debt per person. Of course, America is engaged in three wars while Greece lays around on the beach swilling the Greek version of margaritas.
Why should we care about the Greek debt crisis? Well, world economists think that the Greek debt crisis might become Europe's version of America's Lehman Brothers financial crash. They are worried there will be a catastrophic failure that freezes credit markets and that could affect the U.S. economy.
Just how did Greece end up in this financial mess? Turns out it was with plenty of American help from our greedy banks. Ten years ago Greece realized they were headed for financial issues. They desperately needed a huge influx of cash. They scratched their heads, wondering who could help them. They contacted an American investment bank by the name of Goldman Sachs.
So, Goldman Sachs huddled together all their crooked little heads to figure out how they could beat the system, fool other banks all around the world and make a handsome profit at it too. They devised a scheme to hide the extended Greek debt so that European banks would continue to lend to Greece. So, they came up with the idea called a currency swap. Goldman Sachs sold these swaps as if they were fiscally sound but in reality they were not.
Maybe the European banks were worried. Maybe the European banks sensed something was not quite right. Maybe the European banks were overly cautious. So, what did they do to cover their risk?
The European banks figured out to transfer the risk of the Greek bonds to a third party, known as credit default swaps. Who is the third party or parties? Anonymous. That's because America does not regulate that industry.
The possible third party credit default swaps players are rumored to most likely be American banks. Of course, all of the American and European banks operate in secret so little can be verified and only speculation offered.
Just last week Big Banks met with President Obama, supposedly for campaign contributions. The next day on the news there is the big flap about how the Greek debt crisis could implode American banks.
Then you hear how Obama suddenly is giving bailout money now to Greece via the IMF ($318 billion). Sort of like stimulus money on the sly to prop up greedy American bankers who made some bad investments. Between the EU (EU Commission: $75 billion, Euro Zone Countries: $570 billion) and the IMF it is Greece that will receive almost $1 trillion in emergency bailout funds. Why are we giving money to people who spend their lives partying and don't believe in savings accounts?
It does make you wonder if Americans will take to the streets soon if this economy and jobs situation does not improve dramatically. Check out what the educated savvy Greeks have to say about the situation. They are furious at their mismanaging inept politicians:
Now chill out with funny man Jon Stewart tells you about this outrageous debt situation:
Wednesday June 22, 2011
Grecian Burn
Young people and the elderly throw incendiary devices and yogurt to protest Greece's proposed austerity measures.
Wednesday June 22, 2011
Grecian Burn - Credit Default Swaps
Aasif Mandvi explains how Goldman Sachs helped Greek people to continue retiring a few years before puberty.
Wednesday June 22, 2011
Grecian Burn - Battle of Duality
Greece is torn between the aggression of the Spartans and the wisdom of the Athenians when dealing with its debt.
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