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Greek PM Calls for Crackdown on Financial Speculators

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is in Washington for a four-day visit to discuss Greeces economic problems. On Monday, Papandreou called on the United States to crack down on speculators he accused of trying to undermine his countrys struggle to overcome a severe debt crisis.

George Papandreou: This whole affair has a horrible sense of déjà vu. The same financial institutions that were bailed out with taxpayers money are now making a fortune from Greeces misfortune, while those same taxpayers are paying the price in deep cuts to their salaries and social services. So unprincipled speculators are making billions every day by betting on a Greek default. All this may sound a bit familiar to American ears. Yet, unlike the bankers, Greece isnt asking for a bailout, let alone a bonus.

Last month, Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke announced a probe into the role of major Wall Street firms in Greeces financial crisis. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped Greece obscure billions in debt from the EU budget overseers in Brussels. Goldman Sachs is said to be the most important of more than a dozen banks used by the Greek government to manage its national debt using derivatives. Meanwhile, in Greece thousands of labor unionists rallied in Athens on Monday.

Greek Protester: We do not accept having to pay for any capitalist crisis with money coming out of the common citizens pockets and going into offshore companies.

The Greek labor unions are calling on the government to rescind austerity plans, which they say will impose a heavy burden on regular working people.