Democracy Now on Friday spoke with none other than former Prime Minister George Papandreou, about the financial crisis, the role of banks and the importance of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement. Papandreou, who was in Durban, South Africa attending the UN Climate Change Conference, was asked what his thoughts were about the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the subject of Goldman Sachs, and about naked CDSs, tax havens, as well as transparency in the banking system. You would not believe what this man said about all these subjects. Is he from the same planet....
Ti pineis kai den mas dineis?
Ti pineis kai den mas dineis?
When asked about the Wall Street movement our rocket scientist ex-premier said that "the movements ... are saying something very, very specific. That inequality in the end is an inequality of power. And we need to redistribute power, not just money. Power ---- and this is I think the Democratic challenge that we have today."
We here at hellasfrappe just want to remind Papandreou, and everyone
like him, that when his own people were gathered outside of the Greek
parliament to protest for months on end this past year, he rather chose to enforce brutal force against them. There
was no democracy there Mr. former PM, just toxic tear gas against your own people! Mr. Papandreou when you go abroad
and speak about a better world.... remember that there are thousands of
videos that prove what type of two-faced lying cheat you are.
Here is a small transcript of the interview and we will analyze several other points he made further down. Judge the evidence for yourselves:
" What role did Goldman Sachs play in what’s happening in Greece today in the economic crisis?
GEORGE PAPANDREOU: Well, obviously, a number of firms, such as Goldman Sachs, have played a crucial role in the financial crisis around the world. We are still in the process of investigating the role of Goldman Sachs. In Greece, there has been a parliamentary committee set up, and we will have the results hopefully soon.
AMY GOODMAN: How did Goldman Sachs benefit by giving additional credits to Greece?
GEORGE PAPANDREOU: Yeah, this was—these were practices that in the past were considered legitimate practices, not only for Greece, but for many other countries. But in the end, these were—these innovations were the—what brought down not only Lehman Brothers but the whole financial situation just a few years ago, unluckily to the detriment of the man or woman in the street. But we haven’t really seen the banking system being revamped. And this, I think, is a key issue. We need real regulation around the world to deal with the issues such as naked CDSs, tax havens, transparency in the banking system, more democratic decision making. This is absolutely necessary if we want to have a sustainable economy.
AMY GOODMAN: Is Greece being ruled right now more by American financial institutions than the people of Greece?
GEORGE PAPANDREOU: I wouldn’t say Greece is being ruled by American financial institutions. I would say that Greece is obviously dependent. Obviously, we have our share of responsibility as Greece, too, particularly the previous government, in borrowing more than we could pay back and not investing it in areas which would be productive. I’d be very much in favor of borrowing and investing in green growth, for example, which would make us competitive, because I do believe Europe can become competitive vis-à-vis other countries, not through inequality, not simply through cutting our wages and prices, but through investing in quality, investing in green growth and so on. So I think we are—yes, we are dependent right now on these loans, and on very strict conditions, but we’re working to go beyond this and make Greece a robust economy, a viable economy. We have great potential. Our people have great potential. They’re suffering right now. We’re all suffering. But we have great potential."
As far as the issue of Goldman Sachs is concerned and the so-called investigation.... this is indeed the laugh of the day. We here at hellasfrappe want to also remind George Papandreou that his predecessor Costas Simitis, who had given him the "ring of leadership" in the PASOK party, was the reason Goldman Sachs came to Greece in the first place! Remember the swaps Mr. Papandreou? Tsk.. tsk... tsk... no wonder only a mere 15 percent of crazed socialist-wannabe's still support you. Why waste tax payers' money on investigating something that we know will only implicate key members of your own political party?
Another part of the interview which totally had us laughing for hours was his reference to CDS contracts. Papandreou said "We need real regulation around the world to deal with the issues
such as naked CDSs, tax havens, transparency in the banking system, more
democratic decision making. This is absolutely necessary if we want to
have a sustainable economy." Mr. Papandreou, need we remind you that your own brother owns a company in Luxembourg that advises hedge fund CDS-ers? Need we remind you of all the accusations that have been made against you over the past 12 months + by parliamentary MP Panos Kammenos on this very subject? (Click here for this series of stories)
To watch the complete daily, independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, and for more reports from the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durban, visit http://www.democracynow.org