Greece woes started from dodgy Wall Street deals

I WOULD guess about now the Greeks would not be very welcome in the Rue Alphones Weicker in Luxembourg. It’s home to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office. The number- crunchers there must be deeply annoyed with Athens.

But after doing some research, I began to get the feeling this wasn’t all Greece’s fault. I didn’t have to look far to discover the loans to the Greek Government were initially made by speculators operating through Goldman- Sachs that benefited both, as well as the Greek oligarchs.

The juice loans ( a loan at usurious interest rates, normally made by organised criminals) were then transferred to the EU banking system before they became completely toxic.

It was becoming obvious EU banks had been left with the festering products of a hustle that began in Wall Street.

The European banks do not want to pay the cost for someone else’s speculation. This makes sense from their perspective, but dumping the cost on the Greek people is a flagrant injustice.

It can be traced back to 2008 when the US walked away from a responsibility to punish Wall Street financiers for the sins committed under the Bush administration – unlike Iceland, which sent the corrupt bankers to prison and reorganised its nation.

I sincerely hope the Greek people can follow suit and get on with their lives without being debt slaves to the EU.

If not, financial fraud and manipulation is a get- out- ofjail- free card. The people have paid for it in the past and now the people of Greece are being told to pay for this one.

It appears that in high finance the best way to rob a bank is to own one.

RON WADFORTH,

Annandale.