Wall St. Helped Greece to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis(Goldman Sachs implicated again)

NYT ^ | 02/14/10 | LOUISE STORY, LANDON THOMAS Jr. and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

[TigerLikesRooster]

February 14, 2010

Wall St. Helped Greece to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis

By LOUISE STORY, LANDON THOMAS Jr. and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

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.

The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing instrument that would have pushed debt from Greece’s health care system far into the future, much as when strapped homeowners take out second mortgages to pay off their credit cards.

[RayChuang88]

This is from the FairTax.org FAQ:

A VAT works very differently. It taxes every stage of production. It is much more complex and is typically hidden from the retail consumer. Second, in industrialized countries that have a VAT, it coexists with high-rate income tax, payroll, and many other taxes that, in some instances, have led to marginal tax rates as high as 70 percent. Third, all other industrialized countries, except Australia and Japan, have a much larger tax burden than the U.S., which requires higher rates and makes tax administration much more difficult. Lastly, a VAT is a lobbyist’s dream, allowing them to install their loopholes unbeknownst to the purchaser. A retail sales tax, in contrast, is a lobbyist’s nightmare, applied as it is under the bright lights of the retail counter.

In short, FairTax is vastly superior to a VAT because it is NOT a potential "hidden tax."

[April Lexington]

I actually have been to China and I wouldn't necessarily move there. But... that 10% income tax rate is looking mighty attractive. The point I was making is that money and entrepreneurs will move to low tax jurisdictions rather than keep paying high taxes. We, in the Land of the Free, are taxed globally. But in most other places, money will migrate to lower tax jurisdictions. So... I think rich Greeks will look for cheaper places to set up shop...

[April Lexington]

This language could easily be applied to California and the inevitable calls for bailout by other states that were not as irresponsible...

THAT would be unconstitutional... oh, wait... I forgot. The GOP didn't bother to challenge the Sotomayor nomination...

[April Lexington]

My great fear. Once that happens ALL states will spend like lunatics. Believing Uncle Sam will bail them out. At that point, our Federal system collapses and we are serfs of the population centers. We will exist to pay for their socialist lifestyles... Swing low sweet Chariot....

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks TigerLikesRooster.

[Pelham]

” It has become fashionable to use free economy and anti-liberal sentiment as a cover for (usually pro-liberal) financial oligarchy’s misdeed. “

Well said.