Goodbye Ireland...

[Clerkenwell]

The ECB 'bailout' of the Irish state has just been announced. Ireland has ceased to be an independent nation state. Its status is much the same as, say, Hungary inside the Warsaw Pact except the EU sends in monetary economists instead of tanks to exercise control .

Anyone give a damn? Or care to bet who's next?

[ElisabethWhispers]

Wow.

[MaggieSinead]

Originally Posted by Clerkenwell

Anyone give a damn?

I do.

[Laurentius]

Yes, I care. I believe in sovereignty of the nation state. Ireland has in many ways been a breath of fresh air in Europe; and now they'll be made to comply with EU demands dragging them down. Sucks.

[pjorourke]

U.S.????

[Camille]

Spain, or perhaps Portugal

[Sisyphus]

They weren't referred to as the P.I.G.S. for nothing. None of the other countries in the acronym would surprise me...

[macksback]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

U.S.????

I hope your wrong.

[gnadfly]

Or maybe more like G.I.P.S.

[TexTushHog]

I care. I'm long on Euro zone government bonds. I perceive the loans to be good for long term Euro zone government bond prices in Europe. Still much better yields there that I think will hold up in the next 4 to 9 months.

[I B Hankering]

I’m sure Ireland will prevail; the Irish have an indomitable spirit. It seems Ireland’s problems, in part, are attributable to speculation in the U.S. housing market.

Ireland to Shrink, Merge Banks as Part of Bailout
Shawn Pogatchnik
AP

“Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said Ireland's banks have become wholly dependent on loans from the European Central Bank and looks likely to be frozen out of normal credit markets for at least a year.

“He stressed that Ireland has no plans to force senior bondholders of Ireland's five state-supported banks to absorb losses, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel says will eventually start to happen when new European Union crisis-management rules are enacted in 2013. . . .

“Ireland's finance chief said he agreed with European colleagues that the Dublin banks - which borrowed money aggressively and pumped it into runaway Irish, British and American property markets for a decade - needed to be cut down to size and refocused purely on supporting Irish savers, home owners and businesses. Most of their remaining foreign assets ‘will have to be discarded,’ he said.

“‘Because of the huge risks they (Irish banks) took earlier this decade, they became a huge risk not only to this state but to the eurozone as a whole,’ he said.”


http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/ireland-to-shrink-merge-banks-as-part-of-eu-imf-bailout/19728320

[Sa_artman]

Maybe Bono should bail them out seeing as he made $$$$ off their plights.

[Texas Contrarian]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

U.S.????

Not to worry, P.J.

Ben can just order up some 'roids for those Fed printing presses.

Just a few keystrokes and presto! -- the Fed has another trillion bucks so that it can write checks to whomever it wants. I mean, how cool is that!

If buying Treasuries doesn't do the trick, they can buy stocks directly. Then they can hire people to contact real estate agents and start buying single family homes.

If that doesn't support asset values and spark the economy, they can hire a few thousand people (simultaneously taking a bite out of the unemployment rate!) to buy stuff sold on eBay with printed money!

We ain't Ireland!

[Muffman]

Originally Posted by Clerkenwell

The ECB 'bailout' of the Irish state has just been announced. Ireland has ceased to be an independent nation state. Its status is much the same as, say, Hungary inside the Warsaw Pact except the EU sends in monetary economists instead of tanks to exercise control .

Anyone give a damn? Or care to bet who's next?

Who are we to judge those unelected bureaucrats in Brussels when they tell us they know whats best?

[nevergaveitathought]

Ireland ..ahh shed no tear for ireland on this its most recent and comparatively minor tempest....its people have weathered so much more than this....mud caked, hut living, serfdom...famine and strife...sold out by kings and those entrusted with the people's safe-keeping... kept whole by dreams and song and tradition..it will survive as its people are survivors...

step into its pubs and listen to the music of the people... go to malloys in County Meath, ancient seat of the high kings of Ireland

let me take you there with help....

sit back in your seat and sip at your beer. close your eyes and prick your ears as men walk into the bar and launch into song and then head out again...

in comes a man with slick black hair and watery eyes..he cant look at you but all the locals turn their attention to him....as if they had waited and waited for him and for his secrets meant for them alone... their eyes were trying to pry something out of him, but he stared into his pint as if wishing to be left alone. Finally he gives in and stands, walking to the center of the pub...he looks off into the distance, his shoes dusty and his gray wool suit rumpled and frayed. He breathes deep, filling lungs, and then pursing his lips, pushes out a long slow note, the place goes quiet, all pints go down.
the man, with closed eyes, whistles a sad, soaring tune, the sound from his lips filling up the room.

When he finshed, tears were seen on men's faces and the roar of applause filled the room. The whistling tradition was from a leaner time, when instruments in Ireland weren't to be found, for money was too precious even for song.

Ireland will survive these times.