Bailing Out European Banks, Not Greece

Europe stood at the precipice of another financial crisis last week as Greece, for all intents and purposes, went bankrupt. The interest rate on Greek bonds briefly shot up to an eye-popping 38 percent--the result of a market frozen by investors' worries about a default. To stave off collapse, European leaders and the International Monetary Fund hastily arranged a bailout totaling as much as $185 billion--more than three times the amount officials initially estimated. The lenders are extracting their pound of flesh: Greece will have to slash its public deficit and gouge wages as a way of rehabilitating its economy.

While EU politicians characterized this as a bailout for a troubled country, in truth it's a rescue package for Europe's banks. Financial institutions in France and, to a lesser extent, Germany, have flooded Greece with cheap credit for a decade. Even after crises in Ireland, Iceland, and Latvia in 2008 and 2009 made clear that Europe's weaker economies had become bad credit risks, the banks didn't pull back. According to Barclays Capital, French and German financial companies now hold more than $100 billion in Greek government bonds.
Newsweek