Thursday, February 9th., 2017
The Clintons Assisted Goldman Sachs, Angela Merkel In The Greek Financial Crisis
Feb 8, 2017 12:40 PM
I. Goldman Sachs Was Responsible For Greece's Economic Collapse
Goldman Sachs is generally blamed for having a hand in intentionally causing Greece's 2008 financial crisis. Observers
have noted that the financial group was instrumental in helping to
arrange a secret loan of 2.8 billion euros for Greece, disguised as an
off-the-books “cross-currency swap” - a complicated transaction in which
Greece’s foreign-currency debt was converted into a domestic-currency
obligation using a fictitious market exchange rate. This allowed Greece
to hide 2% of its debt but left it immediately in a much worse position
after the effects of 9/11 caused the amount Greece owed to Goldman
double.
Meanwhile, Goldman padded its
profits by leveraging Greece as much as possible along with most of the
rest of the global economy. It continued this pattern of predatory
lending advice in 2005, when they renegotiated the deal with Greece to
lock in their debt at a staggering 5.1 billion euros. In 2009, it made
another proposal for a financial instrument that would push the debt
from Greece’s healthcare system into the future, delaying payment. In
the aftermath of its efforts to financially hobble various nations
across Europe, Goldman employees have moved into positions of control
within Europe's financial sector. Mario Draghi, managing director of
Goldman’s international division at the time of their negotiations with
Greece, has since moved on to become the head of the European Central
Bank.
II. The Clintons Helped Goldman Sachs To Continue To Exploit The Greek Crisis Financially
As Greece's crisis exploded,
Goldman associates began to make apparent moves to continue to leverage
the situation as much as possible. In 2014, Marc Mezvinsky, a former
Goldman Sachs employee and wife of Chelsea Clinton, launched Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity along with two other Goldman employees to attract investors hoping to cash in
on Greece's broadly touted economic recovery. As a former Goldman
employee, it is strange that Mezvinsky appeared to be so certain of a
Greek recovery, given his relationship to the finance group that laid
the foundation for the crisis and knew firsthand how unlikely Greece was
to recover. SEC documents reveal
that new investors to Eaglevale Hellenic were required to put down at
least $2 million. Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein not only
invested in the firm, but allowed his association with the fund to be
used in its marketing. Hillary Clinton has refused to comment on
how much Blankfein invested in Eaglevale Hellenic. At a time where
Greece's financial woes were not only well known to Goldman Sachs, but
becoming increasingly obvious to the world, the Eaglevale fund bears
alarming signs of being a blatant attempt to steal cash from unwitting
investors too foolish to see the writing on the wall.
The Clintons were receiving
inside information that would have kept them incredibly well informed
about the Greek crisis. Gary Gensler, former co-head of finance at
Goldman Sachs and the financial director of Clinton’s 2016 election
campaign was revealed in Wikileaks Hillary Clinton Email Archives to
have been sending Clinton inside information on Greece's recover
prospects while he was acting as the head of the U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2011. In 2012, Sydney Blumenthal emailed
Clinton classified information about German leadership's thoughts on
further potential bailouts for Greece which apparently had been acquired
by a "sensitive source" working undercover within the German
government. While receiving some of this information was part of
Clinton's job as Secretary of State, her close relationship to Goldman
Sachs and her son in law's Greek fund raises very clear questions about
potential conflicts of interest.
III. The Clintons Helped Germany Consolidate Political Control Of Greece By Encouraging Austerity
As Greece began to react
negatively to austerity demands made by Germany during its first two
successive bailouts of the financially embattled nation, the Clintons
worked to ensure that Greece did not leave the Eurozone and continued to
accept austerity measures even when these actions did not benefit the
German and Greek people. By January 2015, Greeks were tired of
increasingly demanding German financial bailouts and elected Alexis
Tsipras as Prime Minister after he promised to resist further austerity measures. The media was awash with rumors that Greece would leave the Eurozone in a "Grexit." By early July, emails from Wikileaks Podesta Files showed that the Clinton camp was working to ensure that Greece remained in the EU and suggested that Bill Clinton speak directly with Prime Minister Tsipras to prevent Grexit.
On July 10, just days after the first flurry of emails worrying about a potential Grexit, CNN
reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was inclined to listen to
the demands of German voters and say no to another round of austerity.
Later on the same day, Bill Clinton's foreign policy advisor and Hillary
Clinton associate John Podesta were included in an email chain discussing disapproval
of Merkel's decision and decided that Mr. Clinton should call Merkel to
"suggest" a change of course. Just nine days after this email was
sent, the BBC
reported that Merkel was "flip flopping" and would consider a third
round of austerity measures for Greece. The austerity measures were criticized as
being far too generous to Greece and not being in the best interest of
German taxpayers. The multiple measures of austerity ultimately reduced
Greek sovereignty and increased their reliance upon the EU.
IV. The Clintons Received Apparent Compensation From Goldman Sachs And Germany For Their Work
The Clintons not only held
improperly close financial and familial relationships to individuals
associated with the finance group that caused Greece's crisis, but also
apparently assisted Angela Merkel in consolidating German control over
the EU and forcing certain states such as Greece to become increasingly
dependent upon the union. In both cases, they appear to have been
compensated handsomely for the roles they played.
Goldman's role in creating the
Greek crisis and Mezvinsky's attempts to attract cash to what savvy
investors should have seen as a doomed venture raises new questions
about the hundreds of millions paid
to the Clintons by Goldman for "speaking events" from 2001 to 2016, the
exact same time that Goldman Sachs was involved with helping lay the
foundation for Greece's collapse. Some of these speeches occurred after Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity opened its doors in 2014.
Germany also made significant
donations to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's election
campaign. In February 2015, at the same time Tsipras was pushing for an
end to austerity measures, the German government was revealed in Wikileaks emails to be among foreign governments who were "recent donors" to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton insiders frequently worried about whether the foreign donations might be perceived as unethical or illegal. It has since been revealed that Germany gave nearly £4 million in taxpayer's money to the Clinton Foundation during the height of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Angela Merkel's attempts to retain control
over Greece through austerity have been just one of a number of measures
to consolidate and centralize power in the European Union. In January
2017, Disobedient Media reported
on accelerated efforts to create an EU Army, which would cause
substantial financial, military and political burdens for European
states.
This article was originally posted at www.disobedientmedia.com