By Anastasios Papapostolou
We asked four prominent Greek-Americans of the financial industry to talk to us about Greece, its economy, and how it affects the world markets.
“There is no way that Greece can repay its debt,” stated Michael Psaros, the co-founder and managing partner of KPS Capital, which holds six billion dollars worth of assets.
An expert in restructuring failing companies, Psaros believes that Greece and the Eurozone are just “kicking the can down the road” and that “the only real solution is for the lenders to forgive Greece’s debt.”
“The Greek debt is held at par and 5 years of recessions created only a 2 billion dollar surplus; there is no way Greece will ever be able to repay its creditors.”
Calamos Investments CEO, CIO and Chairman, John P. Calamos Sr, stressed that Greece needs to grow the private sector. Calamos investments has been looking at possible investments in Greece for the past two years.
“I understand that governments take care of people, but innovation and creativity come from the private sector,” said Mr. Calamos, who also noted that “just borrowing more money does not solve the problem.”
John Koudounis, a person who works closely with the IMF and has frequent meetings with EU heads because of his position as the President and CEO of Mizuho Securities USA, believes that “although Germany and France are holding still they will have to give in, even a little bit, because of fears of contagion to other EU members such as Spain, Italy and Portugal.”
“We hope that there will be a compromise, because the alternative is that Greece will have to leave the Euro and this will cause the world markets to be in chaos.”
Finally, Michael Bapis, the Co-founder and managing partner of The Bapis Group at Hightower, believes that whatever the outcome of the negotiations may be, it will affect the Eurozone one way or another.
Watch the exclusive interviews below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2rSjbz5ycw
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