No US Taxpayer Dollars for Greek Bailouts

J.D. Foster / May 06, 2010

The European Union (EU) has gone hat in hand to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance in bailing out one of its own. Greece is in a financial death spiral brought on by years of amazingly irresponsible deficit spending and similar behaviors often found in socialist states to the detriment of their economies. Greece also abandoned its national currency in favor of the Euro, in hindsight at least a stunningly bad move which for the EU makes this a major financial crisis and an embarrassment of the first order. What makes these otherwise somewhat removed events of immediate concern to the United States is that the IMF intends to use US taxpayer dollars to try to stave off Grecian disaster.

The relevant specifics of the Greek bailout are that the Eurozone (mostly Germany and France) is to chip in $106 billion while the IMF is to plus up this amount with another $39 billion. The IMF, of course, is tapping funds provided by its own member governments to participate in the bailout. As it happens, the Obama Administration convinced the Congress to give the IMF an extra $100 billion in play money last year. How convenient. (more…)