#176 Planet Money: Athens And The Bond Kings Of Newport Beach




Planet Money show

Summary: In Athens, everybody has a story about how easy it was to borrow money after Greece joined the euro and interest rates plummeted. On today's Planet Money, Chana Joffe-Walt brings back a few of those tales. Her cab driver upgraded from a Toyota to a Mercedes. Paul Emmanuelides, who owned a couple bars, borrowed 7 million euros to build an industrial brewery. People borrowed money to go on vacation -- then refinanced the loans. "It was like manna from heaven," one lady says. Where did all the money come from? A lot of it came from Newport Beach, home of the giant bond fund Pimco. Adam Davidson was there last week, and he spoke with Mohamed El-Erian, Pimco's CEO.