Greek Mythology: The Real Story of the European Debt Crisis
Yes! Magazine – WALDEN BELLO – July 20, 2011
The frenzied Greek credit scene didn’t only feature European financial actors. Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs showed Greek financial authorities how financial instruments known as derivatives could be used to make large chunks of Greek debt “disappear,” thus making the national accounts look good to bankers eager to lend more. Then the very same agency turned around, and, through a kind of derivatives trading known as “credit default swaps,” bet on the possibility that Greece would default, raising the country’s cost of borrowing from the banks but making a tidy profit for itself.
If ever there was a crisis created by global finance, Greece is suffering from it right now.
Averting the eyes
excerpt from lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.15.45, Los Angeles, December 23, 1973
Everyone is godless. And still, as a matter of fashion, we are writing, “In God We Trust.” This is another cheating. Nobody trusts in God, and they write, “In God We Trust.” And unless I write… Of course I do not wish to say very harsh word, that unless I cheat you that way, how a man will accept one piece of paper as one thousand dollars? [laughter] You see? It is a grand cheating, that “I am giving one thousand dollars to you.” But if I value, it is not even one farthing. This is called maya. It is not, but I accept. I accept. If people become enlightened, “No, we are not going to accept this piece of paper as one thousand dollars. We must have gold,” so many things will be solved immediately. So many things. But because we agree to be cheated, the cheaters are cheating and things are going on wrong. This is called Kali-yuga.
