more Michael Lewis

Q&A: Michael Lewis Talks About the Banks That Brought Down Greece

by Jaime Lalinde

September 7, 2010, 12:01 AM

Photograph by Jonas Fredwall Karlsson.

In the October issue of Vanity Fair, Michael Lewis investigates the cause of the Greek financial crisis, one that translates to nearly a quarter-million dollars for each working Greek citizen. In V.F.’s April 2009 issue, Lewis examined the financial disaster in Iceland, winning Loeb and Overseas Press Club awards for his report. Lewis differentiates the two crises in this month’s article, writing, “In Greece the banks didn’t sink the country. The country sank the banks.” Aside from rampant tax fraud, nefarious number crunching by the Greek government, and more than one riot, Lewis found an affable group of monks living on a peninsula in northeastern Greece. The Vatopaidi order has been the recipient of much of the Greek outrage and the center of a parliamentary inquiry into its real-estate empire, which some speculate to be worth more than $1 billion. Lewis spoke with VF Daily about how Greece is the Pittsburgh Pirates of Europe, why Germany has the right to be self-righteous (for once), and why he is betting against the U.S. Treasury.

UPDATE : SOME COMMENTS

...

I'm quite surprised that Michael Lewis failed to mention the great boon to Germany, which is the softening of the Euro that followed the Greek Debt crisis. A weaker Euro made German exports more competitive globally. This is counter-cyclical as Germany's relative strength should have their currency much stronger, putting a drag on their exports. Many have argued that much of the Greek Debt crisis was fomented by Goldman Sachs and others to keep US Treasuries cheap, and the dollar strong. Of course this made American exports less competitive. We saw, in the wake of this crisis the American trade deficit grow.

Posted 9/8/2010 8:37:43am

...

Mr Lewis the crème de menthe these two monksters offered you must have been very strong Let me explain to you that the unfairness Greek people fret about is that the only people who payed their taxes "the ones who could not avoid doing so" the salaried people of the private and the public domain who had their taxes withheld from their paychecks (only in Greece people have to prepay their taxes) are the same people who now must pay the bill, while all the rest - rich people, big corporations, politicians - they keep on doing what they were doing before : screwing the poor guy. If this is not unfair Mr Lewis I don't know what it is. Next time you come to Greece try some retsina wine instead of creme de menthe.

...

Having read the accompanying article, I can only laugh at the sarcasm, holier-than-thou style and gross generalizations the author resorts to. When referring to anything negative, it's always "the Greek people" (not the Government, not certain individuals, the whole nation collectively). Should I also assume that the average American person in the street is responsible for the deaths of more 300.000 civilians in Iraq Mr. Lewis? Greece has become the black sheep of the global community lately, everyone thinks it's fair play to have a go at the country when it is down. But I can't help but wonder what is worse, being guilty of cooking the books, or the preemptive invasion and destruction of a sovereign country based on "cooked" evidence? And by the way, have you found the weapons of mass destruction yet?

Posted 9/8/2010 4:16:20am

...

What a well written and entertaining caricature of an entire nation. God, these Greeks are so useless they can't even organize photo taking tourists on the Acropolis. My uncle is a retired Greek farmer who lives in northern Greece. He's in his eighties now and a look at has hands will tell you he's put in many more honest days work than either Michael Lewis or anyone else who sees Greeks as those lazy, conniving Mediterranean types. As a reward for interring his health in the soil of his meager farmland which lies in the shadow of Mt. Olympus he receives a pension of around 340 Euros a month. That, Mr. Lewis, is after working like a dog for 60 years. If Michael Lewis was interested in truth I’d be happy to accompany him to our village and introduce him to my uncle George where he could take a closer look at his hands. Then I could introduce him to three cousins of mine who are dedicated and hardworking teachers and earn 1200 Euros per month after 16 years of service. They’ve had a pay cut recently. And if his thirst for truth needed further quenching, which I assume it must considering he is a journalist, then I could introduce him to my good friend Niki who cleans the streets of her city Thessaloniki for 400 Euros per month and has zero prospects of ever getting a pension. At the end of our investigating we could then sit down in a Greek café and cry over the terrible fate that’s befallen German finance and industry; which has completed its conquest of this country far more thoroughly than any colonizer could ever hope to do and did it way before this current mess materialized. But then you need to open your eyes to truth to see all this rather than fall in love with sleazy monks and borderline racist stereotypes.

...


...