Obama may pause to contemplate the unforgiving force of a weapon capable of generating enough light and heat to leave the "shadow" of an unidentified victim etched into the stone steps of a bank.
But spot a young, cleanly dressed family sitting on the steps of a bank on Stadiou Street, father holding out both hands for money; visit Kyada, a municipal soup kitchen that feeds 1,500 a day; stray beyond where the tourists go, as far as the boarded-up shops and graffiti that says "Greece for the Greeks", and there is another reality.
They may endorse the idea of putting the European Central Bank in charge of bank regulation, a step toward a banking union.
It is a central part of the "single rule book" for the proposed new euro-zone bank supervisor to start work next year: the first step in the creation of a banking union to help resolve the euro crisis.An even mightier force in Brussels is Germany.
"That's where we used to hang out on Friday and Saturday nights," David told his passenger, pointing at the marble steps of a former bank, its stately window now cluttered with sunglasses.
But the ten biggest have more than $7trn of assets, making most of them "too big to fail .The EU will take tentative steps in the direction of a banking union.
On the steps of an old bank building just beyond the subway entrance, several men were sitting or lounging or sleeping.
Next step employs a bank of oriented bandpass filters.
Ms. Waters on Monday became the second lawmaker in two weeks to face formal ethics charges, as the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct announced it was creating a new panel to hold a trial to determine if she took improper steps on behalf of a bank in which her husband owns stock.
"If we are not convinced that greater banking competition is going to produce a financial institution that is focused on lending into industry, then maybe we need to look at how other countries, including Germany, have taken the step of a national or regional investment bank to provide that finance.
