"If international markets take precedence over the democratic process, there is something wrong with the system." These might sound like the words of Greek prime minister George Papandreou, confronting the fury unleashed by global investors on Greek sovereign spreads since late 2009. However, they are actually the words of another George, one who has made his fortune betting against government policy and against European monetary union - George Soros.
His comments, in 2002, referred to the catastrophic market reaction when Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took a decisive lead in the Brazilian presidential election campaign. Apparently, a Workers' Party was incapable of turning around a difficult fiscal situation.
