Here you will find the Wikipedia entry on the economy of Greece. I will content myself with a few quotes; emphasis mine:

In early 2010, it was revealed that through the assistance of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and numerous other banks, financial products were developed which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy and many other European countries to hide their borrowing. Dozens of similar agreements were concluded across Europe whereby banks supplied cash in advance in exchange for future payments by the governments involved; in turn, the liabilities of the involved countries were “kept off the books^.“

According to Der Spiegel, credits given to European governments were disguised as “swaps” and consequently did not get registered as debt because Eurostat at the time ignored statistics involving financial derivatives. A German derivatives dealer had commented to Der Spiegel that “The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps,” and “In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank.”

These conditions had enabled Greek as well as many other European governments to spend beyond their means, while meeting the deficit targets of the European Union and the monetary union guidelines.

So, if you wondered where at least some of the fault for the economic mess in Italy and Greece lies, look to Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and ‘different US banks.’

Greece has to borrow to pay its debts – the stupidest economic statement imaginable.

I am pretty sure that executives from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are favoured in the current Trump administration.

Does that bother you? That’s today’s dumb question.