Max Keiser said it best in this interview:
– Max Keiser on Greece: ‘The IMF is a Financial Mafia’:
Is the International Monetary Fund Greece’s only solution, or are there other alternatives?
Max: The only solution for Greece is to arrest the Goldman Sachs bankers immediately and all those involved in the fabrication of Greek economic data in 2000, when you became a member of the eurozone. The next step is to nationalize all banks like Sweden did in 1993. The International Monetary Fund is that last thing you need. You will lose your sovereignty. It exercises terrorism. You will be raped in such a way, that it will be the worst pain you have ever felt.
There are those who believe that the IMF is not the “bad wolf” but the only solution for Greece
Max: If someone burns down your house in order to sell you charcoal, would you consider this logical? That is exactly what Goldman Sachs did to the Greek economy. They burned you down like arsonists and then they tell you not to worry they’ll give you charcoal. It’s outrageous. The IMF has said that it can provide Greece with help. The Wall Street investment hedge funds are attacking Greece’s bond market so that the Greek economy collapses. And they’re doing this for a simple reason; to force the Greek people to ask for help from the IMF. The IMF will say, we came because you asked for our help. Wall Street bankers work very closely with the IMF. It’s a financial mafia and the hedge funds are the assassins. Research conducted on Goldman Sachs in the USA and in Europe show how big a mafia it is. They are involved in illegal activity throughout the world.
See also this: Max Keiser on the Greek Crisis (with Greek subtitles)
Riot police clash with Greek protesters over cuts
Policemen try to escape a fire from a petrol bomb during riots at a May Day rally in Athens
Tear gas has been fired at demonstrators in Greece protesting against the government’s planned austerity cuts to save their failing economy.
Thousands of left-wing and union demonstrators have descended on Athens for a march to oppose the wage cuts, tax rises and pension reductions being proposed.
Riot police deployed tear gas into the crowds after protesters hurled rocks at the Finance Ministry this morning.
There were similar scenes in the northern city of Thessaloniki as youths attacked business premises, smashing store fronts and ATMs.
Greece must cut it’s budget deficit by 24 billion euros to secure a £120 billion loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund for the next three years.
The details of the cuts will not be revealed until after the loan is secured, but Prime Minister George Papandreou has warned the country to prepare for a period of hardship.
The French government said today it hopes to have a deal agreed by the end of the weekend.
Without the loan the financially crippled country will almost certainly default on its debts, which would not only be devastating for its own economy, but send shockwaves throughout the eurozone.
However many Greeks are opposing the austerity drive and a number of left-wing groups have vowed to escalate the public protests.
Saturday’s demonstration marched passed the Athens offices of the European Union and US Embassy.
Nikos Diamantopoulos, who was participating in a rally organized by pro-Communist unions, said: “These measures are death. How people are going to live tomorrow, how they’re going to survive, I do not understand.”
Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras told reporters at one of the Athens rallies: “The Greek people do not owe anything to anybody. Those who have brazenly robbed public money and pension funds.”
Government spending in Greece has run-up debts equalling 115 percent of the gross domestic product, resulting in a lowering of their economy’s credit rating. Last week the country’s debts were downgraded to “junk” status, sparking a drop in the value of the euro and fears of a “contagion effect” in the similarly vulnerable south European economies of Spain and Portugal.
May 1, 2010
Robin Henry
See also:
– Warning For Britain As Financial Chaos Spreads to Spain
– Max Keiser on Greece: ‘The IMF is a Financial Mafia’
– Prof. Nouriel Roubini: ‘In A Few Days Time, There Might Not Be A Eurozone For Us To Discuss’
– Greece: Bondholders May Lose $265 Billion as S&P Sees 70% Loss
– Standard & Poor’s Downgrades Greece’s Credit Rating to Junk
– Marc Faber: Governments Will ‘Bankrupt Us’
– Portugal, Not Greece, Poses The Greater Existential Threat To Europe’s Monetary Union
– CDS Traders Are Betting That France Is Next Up For A Sovereign Shakedown (As Are Spain And Portugal)
– Q&A With Billionaire Jim Chanos Part I: ‘Greece Is A Prelude’
– GAME OVER – Greek Curve Goes Apeshit: Bloomberg Reports 3 Month Bid At 21.3%
– EU Draws Up Plans For Single ‘Economic Government’
– The Solution For Greece (Max Keiser, Matt Taibbi and Catherine Austin Fitts)