Greece Considering Legal Action Against U.S. Banks for Crisis

May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Greece is considering taking legal action against U.S. investment banks that might have contributed to the countryâs debt crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou said.

âI wouldnât rule out that this may be a recourse,â Papandreou said, in response to questions about the role of U.S. banks in the crisis, in an interview on CNNâs âFareed Zakaria GPS.â The program, scheduled for broadcast today, was taped on May 13. Neither Papandreou nor Zakaria mentioned any banks by name.

U.S. stocks fell and the euro slumped on concern that Europe wouldnât be able to contain the debt crisis stemming from Greece. The Standard & Poorâs 500 Index declined 1.9 percent May 14, while the euro fell below $1.24 for the first time since November 2008.

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.

âGreece will look into the past and see how things went,â Papandreou said. âThere 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.â

Speculators

In the days leading up to the May 10 announcement of a loan package worth almost $1 trillion to halt the spread of Greeceâs 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 âexceptional volatilityâ in the markets and would work with other regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as part of a coordinated clampdown.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said May 6 that he was concerned about speculation in bond markets using credit default swaps. âBy first buying the CDS and then trying to affect market sentiment by going short on the underlying bond, investors can make large profits,â he said.

Credit-default swaps are derivatives that pay the buyer face value if a borrower -- a country or a company -- defaults. In exchange, the swap seller gets the underlying securities or the cash equivalent. Traders in naked credit-default swaps buy insurance on bonds they donât own.

In the CNN interview, Papandreou said many in the international community have engaged in âGreek bashingâ and find it easy âto scapegoat Greece.â He said Greeks âare a hard-working people. We are a proud people.â

âWe have made our mistakes,â Papandreou said. âWe are living up to this responsibility. But at the same time, give us a chance. Weâll show you.â

Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country's already bloated deficit.

Just goes to show how Greece got themselves into their own debt by being an entitlement, socialist failed state...now wants to blame others. The country will eventually collapse and the world will start to really wake up about guberment spending/debt and entitlement societies always will fail. The question is...how many more countries/guberments/and states will fail before the system is fixed.

""It was sad to see Merrill go down as well," said the voice from inside Lehman Brothers this week as he pondered his own future. "But at least they screwed the shorts. That was good to see."

It was also, at least in the minds of many angry investment bank CEOs, a long time coming. In the months leading up to the current market chaos, the short sellers have been on the prowl. But now the witch hunt has begun. The shorts nailed Lehman and Bear Stearns by betting that their shares would continue to fall. And now they have Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in their sights, sparking speculation that the last two remaining go-it-alone investment banking giants may have to find a deep-pocketed commercial bank to partner up with. "What's happening out there? It's very clear to me â we're in the midst of a market controlled by fear and rumors, and short sellers are driving our stock down," fumed John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley, in a memo to employees. "You should know that the Management Committee and I are taking every step possible to stop this irresponsible action in the market. We have talked to Secretary [Hank] Paulson and the Treasury. We have talked to Chairman [Chris] Cox and the SEC." Cox is listening, and is reportedly proposing a temporary ban on short selling, subject to approval by the SEC's commissioners. If short sellers could be rounded up and roasted as heretics to the true bull market religion, there'd be a rush of people from Lehman and Merrill fighting to add wood to the fire. And Mack would bring the gasoline.

Just goes to show how Greece got themselves into their own debt by being an entitlement, socialist failed state...now wants to blame others. The country will eventually collapse and the world will start to really wake up about guberment spending/debt and entitlement societies always will fail. The question is...how many more countries/guberments/and states will fail before the system is fixed.

More...

1. Greece is a prime example of an entitlement, socialist failed state.

2. History is FULL of examples... including the Roman Empire.

3. It's obvious that such a government and society is a bad deal. Why then, is Obama trying to cornhole America into the same thing? (rhetorical question)