Market "Thumbs Down" on the EU Bailout Barack Obama must have been very frightened, indeed. Otherwise he never would have inserted himself so forcefully into Greece's debt crisis. The truth is, there's much more at stake then people seem to realize. A Greek default would be a major blow to the banking system and the damage would not be limited just to Europe. It could easily spread to the United States and trigger another meltdown. That's why Obama spent most of his weekend on the phone, exhorting EU finance ministers to take swift action to put out the brushfire. Not surprisingly, the details were omitted in the US. media. Here's an excerpt from the UK Independent explaining what happened behind the scenes last weekend: "As the dust settles and the markets cool, details are beginning to emerge of the frantic background negotiations which generated the _750bn plan to save the euro in the early hours of Monday.....the most startling -- and most pivotal role -- may have been played by Barack Obama, according to both American and French officials. He convinced the Europeans that it was time not just to Do Something, but to Do Something Very Big, to rescue the euro and prevent the world from plunging into another financial crisis and recession..... It was after these calls that the headline figure for the EU rescue plan inflated rapidly to _500bn, plus another _250bn from the IMF." ("Was the euro saved by a call from Barack Obama?", John Lichfield,