Greece Prime Minister George Papandreou will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday, where he will appeal for assistance in regulating the currency traders and hedge funds that have bet against Greek debt.
Greece recently announced measures to resolve its debt issues, hoping to attract aid from its European neighbors.
While Papandreou did not come to Washington looking for a hand out, he stressed the U.S. must play a vital role in stopping "unprincipled speculators" from aggravating the Greek debt problems, doing damage to already frail global financial markets.
A number of European leaders are pointing to speculators as the main reason that Greek financing costs have skyrocketed. For its part, profligate Greece has run up a deficit that is 12.7% of GDP, far beyond the 3% limit set by euro area nations.
"Unprincipled speculators are making billions every day by betting on a Greek default," said Papandreou, after meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday.
"That is why Europe and America must say 'enough is enough' to those speculators who only place value on immediate returns, with utter disregard for the consequences on the larger economic system - not to mention the human consequences of lost jobs, foreclosed homes, and decimated pensions," he added.
Papandreou stressed that speculation does not allow Greece to borrow at the same rates other European Union countries and the Eurozone countries borrow at, a situation that is unsustainable within a common currency.
"We're not asking for money," Papandreou insisted. "We're not asking for bailouts. We're simply saying what we want to be is equal partners, as we have taken these measures on the market to be able to get what others also can get, which is basically normal rates of borrowing."
Secretary Clinton commended the prime minister for "moving quickly to put in place changes that are called for given the economic consequences of the fiscal situation that he inherited."
"What I think Greece is looking for...is that the United States, working in the G-20, will make some of the changes in regulatory regimes governing some of these financial instruments that have been used to the detriment not only of Greece, but of other countries, including our own."
Prior to remarking on the Greek debt crisis, Clinton congratulated Iraq on holding parliamentary elections. In a lighter moment, she quipped that Greece, as the birthplace of democracy, should get a royalty any time there's a democratic election anywhere in the world.
"It would help my deficit, too," Papandreou joked.
Papandreou will meet today with President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.
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