the IMF wanted the world to know that Greece
was heading for a crash. But Greece complained
and the IMF kept silent.
However, if they get to "saving" your economy,
then your fate changes radically. Again, look
at Greece now, post Papandreou.
read 'em: NY Times
The
Denials That Trapped Greece
Geert
Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press
At a
2010 meeting in Brussels were, from left, Jean-Claude Trichet, former European
Central Bank president; Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany; José Manuel
Barroso, European Commission president; Prime Minister George Papandreou of
Greece and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
By LANDON
THOMAS Jr. and STEPHEN CASTLE
Published:
November 5, 2011
ATHENS
— The warning was clear: Greece was
spiraling out of control.
But
the alarm, sounded in mid-2009, in a draft report from the International
Monetary Fund, never reached the outside world.
Greek
officials saw the draft and complained to the I.M.F. So the final report, while
critical, played down the risks that Athens might one day default, an event
that could have disastrous consequences for all of Europe.
What
is so remarkable about this episode is that it was not so remarkable at all.
The reversal at the I.M.F. was just one small piece of a broad pattern of
denial that helped push Greece to the brink and now threatens to pull the euro
apart. Politicians, policy makers, bankers — all underestimated dangers that
seem clear enough in hindsight. Time and again over the past two years, many of
those in charge offered solutions that, rather than fix the problems in Greece,
simply let them fester.
...
