[oldembed src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BOxt394dHUc" width="450" height="335" resize="1" fid="21"]
Steve Benen had a couple of notes in his daily mini-report that, to say the least didn't exactly warm my heart to read about when it comes to what's going on in Europe and Greece right now and how that might eventually end up affecting the already ailing economy here in the United States. Par for the course, if you want to look at who the culprits are behind this, they're the same ones that are being protested against with the Occupy Wall Street movement.
For a reminder of who caused a great deal of Greece's problems to begin with, The New York Times did a good job of covering this back in early 2010 of last year -- Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis:
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.
Much more so go read the rest and here are the two notes Steve posted in his mini-report from this Tuesday:
* This was supposed to be reassuring: “Greece has enough money to pay pensions, salaries and bondholders through mid-November, the finance minister said Tuesday.”
* Europe’s steep climb: “Europe has had a rough ride since Greece confessed it falsified its books to join the euro. Now the economic situation is set to worsen, as the sovereign debt crisis that erupted in early 2010 threatens to send the euro zone into its second recession in three years.”
And from that second article linked at Steve's site:
The European debt problems that have roiled global financial markets for the last 18 months are showing signs of turning into a far deeper challenge: Europe’s second recession in three years. [...]
Investors were also jolted by news that the French-Belgian investment bank Dexia might be the region’s first large bank to need a government rescue as a result of the current debt crisis.
It is not just the Continent’s problem.
The United States, a major banking and trading partner with Europe, is stuck in its own rut — prompting the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, to warn Tuesday that “the recovery is close to faltering.” He told a Congressional panel that the economy could fall into a new recession unless the government took further action.
United States stocks ended up for the day, but had bounced wildly on jitters about Europe and rising fears that Greece would have to default on its sovereign — or government — debt. The Greek finance minister said Tuesday that the country could continue to pay its bills at least through mid-November, after other European finance ministers said Greece would not receive its next installment of bailout money before next month, if then.
A downturn in Europe, if it happens, could help tip America back into recession and would undoubtedly ricochet around the world. Europe’s banks are among the most interconnected in the world, and the euro is the world’s second-largest reserve currency after the dollar.
So we can thank these masters of the universe on Wall Street who've never been punished for wrecking the United States economy during the financial crisis of 2008 for potentially harming our economy even further with the games they decided to play with the economies in Europe and Greece, and for continuing to cause more damage yet to our economy in the United States.
And none of them are in jail yet. And the mainstream media keeps asking why there are protests out there against what they've done to us. Go figure.
Russia Today also covered the story this week and here's some of their reporting from the video above -- Grip on Greece tightens as €8 billion bailout held back:
Greece has once again been left hanging - this time until mid-November. Eurozone ministers have pushed back a decision on handing over more bailout cash. Athens has admitted it won't meet deficit deadlines, despite crippling cuts. But the Greek finance minister has said the nation can wait another month for a rescue.
