| People thinking about trading with Greece would like to know this sort of stuff, capisce?
|
Posted on 02/14/2010 7:18:12 PM PST by DontTreadOnMe2009
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...
Instruments developed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and a wide range of other banks enabled politicians to mask additional borrowing in Greece, Italy and possibly elsewhere.
In dozens of deals across the Continent, banks provided cash upfront in return for government payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books. Greece, for example, traded away the rights to airport fees and lottery proceeds in years to come.
[Greece paid Goldman] about $300 million in fees for arranging the 2001 transaction, according to several bankers familiar with the deal.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
The greek officials who agreed to it are also criminal.
If the headline is true, they should speak to Mary Landrieu about striking a 300 million dollar deal on how one can aquire that magic number sum for one’s state or country.
Drudge should post this. Henry Blodget does some very good work.
At the end of the day, the borrower needs to be responsible for their own decisions. Greece is a sovereign country which has been in existence for thousands of years. It needs to own up to its own debts.
Just like the consumer who “cashed out” their home equity to buy that new car, take that cruise, etc.
When I see the name Goldman Sachs I immediately assume a financial transaction to the detriment of the rest of society has occurred. I envision the CEO with horns and a pitch fork.
In that article, he cautions that "If we are going to set an explicit target for the publicly-held debt–60 in 20!–, we need to think carefully about what politicians may strategically omit from the calculation of the 60." Here he is referring to US politicians. So this is not a point a finger at Goldman Sachs, but rather, point a finger at the politicians. Goldman did everything legally.
It is a shame that the politicians in Greece took advantage of the legal loophole. Do you think the politicians in the US would not do the same???
Maybe Greece should ask for a refund.
The fact that these deals were not classed as debt does not mean they were “hidden.” They would have been disclosed as a different type of commitment or liability in a different place in Greece’s financial statements and footnotes.
If the banks who lent money to Greece never bothered to read Greece’s financial statements whose fault is that?
This is like blaming the Chinese for buying US government debt.
Anyone who is not a Rat socialist or dumb as a bag of hammers knows that U.S. government commitments and liabilities are not sustainable, if you look at the “hidden” unfunded liabilities for medicare, social security, prescription drugs and other entitlement programs.
So is it the fault of the Chinese (or the bankers such as Goldman Sachs who are selling US government securities to them) for the fact that the US has unsustainable liabilities which are “hidden” and do not appear as debt on the federal balance sheet?
Is the U.S. under Obama any different from Greece, except it is happening to Greece sooner than to us?
Goldman Sachs makes Enron look good. They should be shut down.
You and me both. NWO banks like Goldman and JP have profited from this mess big time, while bankrolling the transition to globalism.
It will suck to be them upon death and realize hell is a real place. ;)
| People thinking about trading with Greece would like to know this sort of stuff, capisce?
|
| The greek officials who agreed to it are also criminal.
|
Criminal to their own people, just like our politicians.
If Greece made promises in treaties it knew it could not keep, I’d say that comes as close as you can get.
Yet many people here on FR call everyone who gets into financial trouble “deadbeats,” but excuse the banks and financial institutions who do the same and stick us with the bill.
Then call us socialists for complaining about the billions paid in bonuses at the same time while sticking us with the bill.
Be patient.
It's coming.
This is like arresting the bank teller for handing money to the armed robber. The blame here rest solely on the shoulders of the Greek politicians who mismanaged their country’s fisc. Socialist politicians spend like there’s no tomorrow but the people who loan them money are somehow to blame for it.
GS, MS and others are using the excuse that free market means free to do whatever I can get away with.
Free markets should mean free flow of information, low barriers to market entry, etc.
GS, MS, and others are using their "free" market powers to obfuscate and clog up markets, rather than keep them free.
When the libertarians are rounded up by the fascist oligarchs I hope they have sense enough to realize they were just being played as useful idiots.
>>Freemarketers need to get their heads out of their posteriors.
GS, MS and others are using the excuse that free market means free to do whatever I can get away with.
Free markets should mean free flow of information, low barriers to market entry, etc.
GS, MS, and others are using their “free” market powers to obfuscate and clog up markets, rather than keep them free.
When the libertarians are rounded up by the fascist oligarchs I hope they have sense enough to realize they were just being played as useful idiots.>>
But they are doing “God’s work” (/sarc)
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People buying and selling stocks would like to have all sorts of insider information. That doesn't mean a company's bankers, accountants, and lawyers should be shoveling confidential information into the street. Who would do business with a bank that blabbed all the deals its clients were working on?