In 2009 a change in government forced Greece to admit the truth about its troubled economy: Greece had joined the European Union under false pretenses. It’s economic condition was artificially made to look better than it was due to help from the American investment house Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs had helped Greece to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, and in the process netted itself a “premium fee” of $300 million. “The deal also made up 12 percent of Goldman’s $6.35 billion in trading and investment revenue for 2001,” writes Garry Levine for Al Jazeera.

In 2005 Goldman Sachs intervened in a Greek economic crisis a second time, restructuring the original bad deal by increasing debt, stretching out payments, and increasing Goldman’s cut to “something like $500 million.”

Now in 2009 the new government in Greece was facing yet another crisis, and a team from Goldman Sachs, lead by Gary Cohn, now Chief Operation Officer for Goldman Sachs, flew in to offer yet another restructuring.

“Cohn offered to finance the country’s health care system debt, pushing it far into the future,” writes Levine, “After all, argued Goldman’s team, it had worked before.”

Levine goes on to write, “The Wall Street house not only earned large transaction fees and rights to future Greek revenue, it also hedged its investments, essentially placing a bet on the economy of Greece to fail. Looking at the deals in the rearview mirror, analysts said Goldman’s exposure on Greece was, for all intents and purposes, zero.”

Greece turned down Cohn’s offer, and was forced to accept decades of grueling austerity to work its way out from under mountains of debt. A Greek generation or two will be lost, even as political fascism predictably rises in response to economic privation. Preventable political disaster looms, because Goldman Sachs wanted more money.

Now, in an East Side bike shop with Governor Gina Raimondo, Senator Jack Reed, Mayors Elorza, Diossa, Grebien, Badelli-Hunt and more press than I’ve seen gathered in weeks, Gary Cohn was offering the state $10 million in small business training and funding, and everyone seemed to think this was a great idea.

I couldn’t have been the only person who thought there was irony in Cohn’s statement that, “We at Goldman Sachs… like to be accountable for what we do.”

Goldman Sachs is giving away free money, perhaps to salve their consciences or to buy some positive press after nearly destroying the world economy, or perhaps to inspire a new generation of rich suckers to fleece in the next market bubble. It doesn’t really matter why they are doing it.

When Rhode Island takes the money, they should know that the money comes, in part, at the expense of the Greek people, who suffer because a vampire-like Wall St. bank has consigned the country to half a century of brutal, soul-destroying austerity.

As Levine says so eloquently in his Al Jazeera piece, “The consequences are born by ordinary Greek people that now find themselves in the the economic equivalent of debtors’ prison.”

We should understand the moral consequences of accepting money stained with the blood, sweat and tears of a nation’s future.

In Greece, after years of suffering at the hands of the international banks and being ruled by two major political parties that did absolutely nothing to alleviate the economic misery, the Greek people left their parties. Greeks in mass finally saw the light, gave up on their two major parties, and simply walked away from them and jumped on the bandwagon of a formerly obscure political party, Syriza. That party, in less than one year, has risen to be the majority party and ever since the election, polls indicate that Greeks are even more excited about their new found party than prior to the last election. Greeks have enthusiastically supported Syriza because they figured out that Syriza, unlike the major parties, supports the Greek people and will fight to improve their lot. The other two parties in Greece have been abandoned by the population because they were part of the establishment and used rhetoric and empty promises, but never did anything to gain relief for the people of Greece.

It should be noted that the Greek people have suffered great financial hardship than did Americans in the Great Depression. The establishment in Europe, led by the big banks, is petrified of this change and have done their best to gang up along with corporate media outlets, to cast Syriza in an unfavorable light. The financial interests in Europe have worked very hard to destroy Syriza, as is sets a very dangerous precedent for curbing the power of corporations and banks. Here the corporate media has not discussed the happenings in Greece. It is intentionally a well-kept secret in this country. So far the Greek people have seen through the anti-Syriza propaganda and have continued to rally to Syriza.

In Spain, almost a carbon copy of the rise of Syriza has occurred, with the rising party being called Podemos. Podemos, like Syriza, has risen from obscurity to, according to the latest polls, the majority party in Spain. The Spanish finally realized that neither of their major political parties really do anything to help the lot of the Spanish people. Their parties, like ours, are merely tools of the banks, corporations and special interest groups. At long last the Spanish people, just like the Greeks, saw the light; that they would never get relief from the major parties as they are corrupt and unrepresentative of the masses.

Spaniards did the same thing as the Greeks. They just gave up on the major parties and walked away from them. Once again the corporate world and the banking world is frightened, and have done what they can to sabotage Podemos. But once again, as in Greece, the Spanish people have seen through the propaganda war by the upper class. Polls indicate that Podemos will win the next national election in Spain. The remarkable rise of Podemos in Spain has been kept from the US public.

A third example is Iceland. Like Greece and Spain, the people of Iceland finally have seen the light. The political establishment in Iceland is too corrupt and unrepresentative to bring any substantial change to the people of Iceland, and so you have the emergence of another formerly obscure political party. Polls indicate the new “Pirate Party” has grown dramatically with its support doubled in recent months, and now the most popular party in the country. Once again the people of Iceland finally “got it.” The light went on and they just left their major parties out of disgust, and flocked to the Pirate Party.

Meanwhile back in the US there might be some hope. Perhaps Americans are finally waking up to the realization that neither party will really do anything substantial to help the masses. We have a dysfunctional political system that is corrupt with politicians from both sides selling themselves to special interest groups and large corporations.

A recent comprehensive study of the major political parties and the US government told us what some already knew; that the average and the poor have no voice in government, while the rich and powerful control it, and can get pretty much whatever they want. In the last election about 70 percent of the eligible voters stayed home out of disgust.

The presidential season is now getting under way, and so far it appears both parties are sticking with the status quo. Republicans have dusted off Jeb Bush and he seems to be their leading candidate, while Democrats have offered the status quo in Hillary Clinton, who loves war and is owned by the financial interests and corporations. Once again voters are presented with the “lesser of two evils.”

But wait, Bernie Sanders, the Independent US Senator from Vermont jumped in the Presidential race and will run as a Democrat, even though he may not be on the best of terms with the Democratic Party leadership.  His emergence shocked and frighted some observers as he raised over one million dollars in one day from small donors all around the country. Sanders is not the answer however. He is certainly anti big bank, and for workers’ rights, however on the biggest issue of the day, that of war and peace, he is a mainstream candidate, only critical of the way we have fought and pursued our policy of endless war. While he is not the answer to our needs, his early success indicates the US public is willing to embrace someone other than the two establishment parties who do not represent the US public. Is it time for a Syriza, Podemos, or a Pirate Party to rise in the US? Have Americans finally begun to see the light and have they finally concluded that neither or the two major parties will ever bring them relief and representation? Let’s hope, so as it appears to be our very last hope.