Making himself and the Greek government even more of a global laughingstock, Greece’s President says he wants an investigation into the role of so-called speculators. Yes, I’m being serious. According to Bloomberg, he wants to blame investors who wisely (albeit belatedly) realized that reckless and wasteful spending meant the Greek government was increasingly unlikely to honor its debts. Here are key excerpts:
Greece is considering taking legal action against U.S. investment banks that might have contributed to the country’s debt crisis, Prime Minister George Panandreou said. …Papandreou said the decision on whether to go after U.S. banks will be made after a Greek parliamentary investigation into the cause of the crisis. “Greece will look into the past and see how things went,” Papandreou said. “There are similar investigations going on in other countries and in the United States. This is where I think, yes, the financial sector, I hear the words fraud and lack of transparency. So yes, yes, there is great responsibility here.” In the days leading up to the May 10 announcement of a loan package worth almost $1 trillion to halt the spread of Greece’s fiscal woes, European Union regulators were examining whether speculators manipulated the prices of bonds and equities and contributed to the crisis. The Committee of European Securities Regulators said on May 7 it was investigating “exceptional volatility” in the markets and would work with other regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as part of a coordinated clampdown.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDxF1YfeViEc
