Big banks: From Greek bailout to Hamlet's castle

Two years ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted something that sounded quite reasonable. Instead of having European taxpayers foot the bill of a Greek bailout, why not make the banks help pay for it?

They were after all equally to blame for the bankruptcy Athens was facing. Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank giant, had for years sold so-called credit default swaps to the Greek government. This allowed the Hellenic government to hide its real deficit.

So in October 2010, ...