By Heather Horn
Struggling Greece needed to conceal its deficit lest it get into trouble with the EU. American superbank Goldman Sachs had a solution: a nifty tool to conceal large loans under the guise of a currency swap, giving the illusion of a smaller deficit. Meanwhile, the bank made a pretty penny off the deal, collecting a hefty fee and betting at a discount price–with insider information–on the country’s eventual default.
That’s the story, at least, that the mainstream media have latched onto in the past few days. But was populist bugbear Goldman really up to no good, or is this being blown out of proportion? The opinion world is divided: while there’s predictable anti-Goldman backlash to the story, a couple business bloggers say the bank’s nearly blameless on this one.
