The IMF has been crushing developing countries with austerity for nearly 60 years since inception. It was CREATED to do this, so Europeans shouldn't be surprised that this mechanism is now finally being tried on them. It is part of the larger manipulation of a power elite that wants to reduce the power of nation-states and usher in global governance [under their control]... The job of Europe's great commercial bankers was to lend the European PIGS into bankruptcy. The job of Europe's great unions is to introduce social chaos into Europe. Out of chaos, order."

-- The Daily Bell

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences... The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank . . . sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

-- Carroll Quigley, "Tragedy and Hope", 1966, pg 324