“After Argentina’s July win in the semifinals of the World Cup, fans jumped for joy across the country and climbed wobbly stoplights to belt out patriotic songs. On the streets of at least one city, Rosario, Argentina’s third-largest, they also took the opportunity to taunt a U.S. hedge fund manager. Dancing around the National Flag Memorial, they sang a song in Spanish that more or less followed the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s It’s a Heartache. “F–––ing vulture funds,” they chanted, in rough translation, “stop messing around and agree to a swap.”

They would not be satisfied, in soccer or in finance. Weeks after the Argentine team was shut out in the World Cup final, talks in Manhattan broke down between Argentina and some of its creditors, the most important a group of hedge funds led by billionaire Paul Singer. On July 30, when a last-ditch workaround failed and the deadline for interest payments of $539 million passed, Argentina went into default for the second time in 13 years.

How does a New Yorker help tip over the second-largest economy in South America a few weeks before his 70th birthday? By being stubborn, self-righteous, clever, and willing to take his decade-long fight against the country to a Las Vegas court, a Ghanaian seaport, weapons warehouses in Maryland, and at least two rocket launches.”* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from Max Abelson and Katia Porzecanski:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-07/argentinas-vulture-paul-singer-is-wall-street-freedom-fighter