True story: Ralph the Store-Owner has blundered, and fears ruination. He needs money, but he can only get it from Lou the Loan Shark. Lou does his Due Diligence and realizes that he can pitch the interest at a rate Ralph can never meet; that Ralph is desperate and will agree.
Lou would also like to have a piece of Ralph's store.
So time goes by, and the foreseen day where Ralph has to say to the Loan Shark "I just don't have the money. I took my Parents' retirement, my kids college fund, sold my stuff, gave some of that stuff to you on deep discount to meet the vig... I'm at my end."
Lou becomes part owner, maybe full owner, of Ralph's store.
This story has been true for tens of thousands of times, and true since before Ancient Roman days.
Replace "Lou the Loan Shark" with "The Troika" and "Ralph" with Greece (Italy, Spain, Ireland, etc) and now you understand High Finance and Greece.
There's two important differences between Loan Sharks and Banks. First, the latter has Official Sanction (though the former may buy the sanction of officials).
Second: Lou the Loan Shark reaches into his wallet, counts out the physical cash, and hands the money to Ralph. The Bankers say "I magic into existence the amount of your debt (What's your account number?); I add it as an asset to my accounts. See how healthy my books look?"
There's one point that lies outside the analogy. The Loan Shark doesn't have some associates (say, his buddy Sax Mangold) go to the top managers of Ralph's store and offer to cut them in on the take if they'll just fudge Ralph's books. That's so Lou can play the Kabuki of 'Ralph, you are a good loan risk,' knowing all the while Ralph is screwed if he takes the loan.
In Greece, those 'top managers" would be the rich and powerful, who are not suffering as their fellow Greeks are.
Now some total-acceptor of the status quo, some self-imagined 'pragamatist' is sure to come by to offer a supposed difference between Bankers and Sharks. That the Bankers could not foresee, as the Loan Shark could, the inevitabilities of the situation.
Implicit in that claim is that High Finance people simply can do neither Due Diligence nor arithmetic; therefore could not foresee the inevitability of "failure to pay." We're talking about, in the real world, some dozens of people in various institutions who have risen to the top of their profession, in their nation and internationally, over decades. We have to believe they have no way to do research on applicant claims. Can't do arithmetic.
Alternately, the ever-less probable Coincidence Theory: "well, it just sort of happened this way."
The informed adult explanation is that "Bankers of the Upper Levels," and "Loan Sharks" are two phrases to describe an identical function.
P.S. I've seen some remarks here at DKos to the effect that: "gosh, everybody got so excited and talked a lot about the Greek "No" vote, but I guess reality has shut them up, as we see no diaries and comments on the betrayal.'
Well, to clear up the mystery reflect that people in general like to see the greedy, vicious, inhumane people get their plans screwed over, and the ordinary person freed from tyrants and crooks. Just sort of a quirk among Democracy-lovers (and yes, Democracy is an ideology -- got a problem with that?)