Goldman Sachs, Greece, Euros And Fraudulent Accounting [
9 June 2010 ]
QUOTE
I can’t claim to have invented the
off-balance-sheet sleight-of-hand used by the Greek government, under the
guidance of Goldman Sachs, to beggar itself so spectacularly. But I was
certainly a pioneer in the field....................
But it was nevertheless a forebear of the
exercise by which, according to reports this week, the mighty Goldman Sachs
managed billions of dollars worth of bond sales for Greece after arranging
large-scale swap transactions that enabled the Greek treasury to disguise the
true extent of its fiscal deficit. Some 15 major banks are believed to have
done similar swaps, and those same banks are all likely to have sold Greek
bonds to investor clients — on more favourable terms for Greece than would
have been the case if the bond salesmen had known what their own swap dealers
had been up to.
Ah, but it was all within EU accounting
rules at the time, says finance minister George Papaconstantinou, perhaps soon
to find a new career as an Athens taxi driver........... But in the Greek case, the effect was to allow
Europe’s most profligate government to run up a E300 billion deficit, more
than four times the supposed limit for eurozone states. Both cases illustrate
the perversity of high finance, in which no one ever pauses to ask: if we’re a
party to deception, how can we possibly assume anyone else is telling the
truth?
UNQUOTE
Banking seems to be a form of major fraud, one where the
perpetrators with their high priced lawyers walk away laughing - just like
politicians. They don't get charged because they give the prosecutors their
jobs. Hurd and Maude know that. See
Treason At Maastricht on the point.
The Lying Game - Life
QUOTE
So here’s a brief history lesson on how Greece not only got the whole of
Europe into a mess, but is also now threatening the US and even Asia. People
ask me about Greece, and how a people with such a glorious past could act as
stupidly and irresponsibly as they did. Greek intellectuals and historians
have generally blamed the 400-year Turkish occupation for the nation’s ills.
And it is a fact that, where humiliation persists through several
generations, the oppressed begin — in defence of their own dignity — to
imitate their oppressors. The cruelty, vindictiveness and harshness shown by
warring political factions testify to this theory.
But this is not sufficient explanation. The volatility of the Greek
character, probably the only remaining link with the glorious past of
antiquity, is another. The highly individualistic Greek is too self-seeking
to submit easily to the dictates of others. His unruliness has helped him
survive throughout the centuries of oppression, as well as to rise above
adversity, economic or otherwise. But it has also made him unaware of the
advantages of a communal spirit and true democratic attitudes. He will go to
any length to attain his goals, not hesitating to lie and cheat in order to
achieve them. This has — brutal though it may sound — created a climate
where cheating is a way of life, and where the highest and the lowest of
citizens do not hesitate to use dishonesty, especially where politics are
concerned.
A direct result of this way of life has been the spoils system. Although
not a Greek invention, nowhere has it been practised more assiduously than
in Greece. Successive governments have shamelessly brought in their
favourites, returning favours and expecting new ones in the future, and
changing laws to suit their purposes; thus encouraging resentment,
divisiveness and a ‘wait-until-my-turn-comes’ way of thinking. No Greek
government has ever come to power that truly tried to reconcile the people.............
Ghost jobs, easy hours, spin, political favours, do any of these Greek
habits remind you of modern Britain? They do me. Especially the lying.
Gordon Brown has lied about everything — immigration, stealth taxation,
education, you name it — yet you Brits have yet to kick him out of office
(at least while this is being written). We are all Greeks now should be his
slogan, and it might be sooner than you think. Once upon a time, when I
first came to England, spin was at a minimum and lying unacceptable. In
politics, that is. Blair and Brown made lying the sine qua non of their
administrations. John Profumo lied about a hooker and spent the rest of his
life in the East End making up for it. No one died except Ward, and he took
his own life. Blair and Brown have sent countless numbers to their deaths
and have caused thousands of innocent deaths, yet they swan around in their
limos and dare to show themselves preening to the public.
Thinking about it, we Greeks are not all that bad. At least our leaders
have not sent young men to die for the glory of Bush and Blair and Brown,
despite enormous pressure to do so. So what’s a little stealing from the
crooks of the EU, with a little help from Goldman Sachs, that is.
UNQUOTE
Taki is Greek and rich and honest, an unusual combination. He confirms
Goldman Sachs, Greece, Euros And Fraudulent Accounting in essence if not
detail.
