Steve Chiotakis: Today the head of the European Commission said the debt crisis there is the biggest challenge facing Europe in decades. And there’s been a lot of commentary about how the crisis might play out. Take the case of a man —
with no professional financial market experience — who’s been wowing the Brits with the things he’s been saying.

More now from London, and Marketplace’s Stephen Beard.

Stephen Beard: In a national TV interview, Alessio Rastani described himself as a financial trader, and gave this blunt opinion on the latest euro rescue plan.

Alessio Rastani: The big funds, the hedge funds, they don’t buy this rescue plan. They know the market is toast.

He told viewers that government attempts to contain the euro crisis were futile and would fail.

Rastani: The governments don’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world.

And Rastani thrilled and appalled viewers with his casual amorality.

Rastani: I go to bed every night. I dream of another recession. I dream of another moment like this. Why? Because our job is to make money from it.

The interview was an instant hit, an Internet sensation. One expert said “You must watch this if you want to understand how markets work.”

But Rastani is not the high-powered trader he appeared. He runs a small public speaking agency, which is — reportedly — losing money. He says trading is not his business, but a hobby. His overnight success as a financial pundit owes much to the complexity and the tedium of the eurozone debt crisis.

In London, I’m Stephen Beard for Marketplace.