Interview with Richard Wolff on debt

Richard Wolff, an American economist, on debt – interview by Helen Skopis, Athens International Radio, February 2011 on Youtube

“The largest holders of Greek, Irish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian sovereign debt are the biggest banks in Europe, particularly those in France and Germany and so forth. If you permitted the renegotiation of debt [...], then you would put the problem in the hands of the German, French, and British governments because they would have to bail out their banks again.[...] That’s politically difficult for them [...] They would prefer that [...] all the pain be concentrated somewhere else.”