ITEM1
BY WILLS – DMcW’S NEW ARTICLE / CAPITALISM IS OUR PUNISHMENT.
Article touches base on a number of realties crystallizing.
Bonds going to 7%.
Gov relying more and more on ECB backstop.
Anglo black hole, interminable.
Confusion with Irish public regarding confidence in banking.
Corporate pull out on funds.
And, Ponzi pops up finally the penny dropping in the mainstream that the property bubble was a Ponzi scam driven by the banks and the cause of all the above.
The sum of which = financial cul-de sac.
Now what……………………………………………………………………………!!
Now what happens……………………………………………………………….!!
The *insiders* move to preserve their position’s going forward into a new dawn.
Thats what happens, below there.
NAMA / ANGLO.
And, if it involves driving the runaway State bond issuance train, ploughing it straight into door of the IMF with an inevitable sovereign default, so be it, cos, the insiders in Ireland are not going to relinquish power and their luxuries and comfort zones and opulent material wealth for the sake of the countries book balances. Ain’t gonna happen.
No way in hell is it going to happen.
Ireland’s cosy insider elite who are in charge, wherever they maybe on the spectrum of power and influence, these people are not going to input change into a rigged economic system if it spells the end of their easy rich living set up.
What we seem to be left with seems to be that the only show in town is by much, can the insiders, in Ireland, put the kosh on the outsiders to take the pain and keep the easy living on the hog *show*, on the road, without invoking an uprising amongst the outsiders.
Whether they invoke IMF or not in preserving their positions of power influence and patronage is all discussions of a trifle with these characters as demonstrated in blazers the other night. BC gets all the blame but he is albeit but one amongst many and at least he is prepared not to hide it.
As for the ECB and IMF one can only but wonder are the technocrats over there at the same game or, merely falling under the spell of the twinkle in the eye leprechaun promise of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Fascinating times and keeping us all on the edge of our seats.
ITEM 2:
BY ANON – EU REALITIES RELATING TO IRELANDS FINANCEERING
The problem is, the plan for the EU was always for it to be a federation of States, like the USA or USSR, with one central bank, like the Federal Reserve in America.
We in Ireland – and this goes for other European countries too, still think that we live in a separate nation state, even though we are in the EZ with its ECB, this being the most highly integrated heartland of the EU.
I lived in Paris for many years and frequently read ‘Le Monde Diplomatique’, being ‘la référence’ for French geostategic thinking. This monthly magazine frequently pointed out that when Germany was reunited, the French were afraid of Germany leaving the EU to create a separate economic bloc in Central and Eastern Europe dominated by Germany. So the French offered the idea of a single EU currency to be DOMINATED by Germany, because as the golden rule states, whoever makes the gold, makes the rules.
Germany basically makes the rules in the EU from behind the scenes, while France keeps “possession” of the EU civil service in French-speaking Brussels.All the top EU civil servants are French, including Trichet.
We in Ireland needed to pay attention to all of this long ago, but we believed we were still independent, despite not even having our own central bank anymore.
Now, with the Lisbon Treaty passed into law, Ireland’s future depends on when Germany, via the ECB, decides enough is enough, Ireland can’t keep paying independent consultants, sky-high public sector salaries and the like when, as a state, it hasn’t got any money coming in in tax receipts.
“Cut your coat according to your cloth”, and all that.
Most Irish don’t want to have Germany or it’s bogey man, the IMF, coming in here to tell us what to do, because for the most part we don’t speak German, not French, nor any other continental language, and we believe we are independent.
Most Irish continue to believe the “Ireland is Independent” narrative, even though WE are the ones who voted the Lisbon Treaty into law!
We have made our own bed, and Germany, via the ECB, WILL eventually make us lie in it, once they get around to picking up our dossier and reading our public finances in any detail.
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In a nutshell, the Irish government’s public finances are out of control. The Europeans, most importantly the Germans, are increasingly aware of this. Therefore, there will be increasing political pressure on the ECB to stop buying Irish bonds.
Fianna Fáil don’t want to cut public spending by the massive amounts needed. The ECB doesn’t want to be seen as mean-spirited either. So there is an agreement already made that the faceless institution of the IMF will do the restructuring of Ireland.
Expect a dole of about EUR130/week at most and cuts in all public sector salaries of at least a further 20%.
Remember that German guy who spoke out about outlandish pay to IRish doctors? Now the entire German nation a speaking about Ireland in the same way, so the political pressure on the ECB to stop the madness of propping up unsustainable Ireland is going to grow and grow until the curtain finally falls.
The only other outcome is for FF to make the massive cuts in the budget, but they won’t do it. So the writing is on the wall.
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The Germans will achieve what they have been trying to do militarily for 150 years, dominance and control of Europe, with France tagging along firmly in second place, especially as long as they elect people like Sarkozy, De Villepin may have been what was needed.
Britain will dance with everyone but has nailed its colours to the English speaking, US (WASP/Anglo-Saxon) world and its Commonwealth.
Ireland, well after playing high stakes and losing at the table of Casino Capitalism, like a once unruly pupil, we have to sit and listen to the terms and conditions, we just need a battleship off the coast where we can sign on the dotted line. Game over.
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But the very last thing the Irish Govt can do is gift the bondholders with their rightful ownership of their debt. This is the last act they can make to repudiate the wishes of our future new landlord the ECB.
We have absolutely no say over interest rates money supply and finally inflation. And when you get down to it the Germany economy are the gold makers the rest are just hanger ons save the very wealthy Italian families who control the insurance world and the very wealthy French aristocracy permantly veiled from the public eye who fully support the dictate of the German dimension ruling the roost hell bent on no inflation. When US economists want to deride economic policies in EU they always make a first port of call to the French economy citing its competitiveness is compromised by its socialistic dimension and so on.
A decade or so ago Paul Krugman actually predicted all of this debacle in Europe. Now he did not predict the exact mechanics but he did say that the EC could never achieve a true Federal State such as the US because whilst financial capital may flow freely the fluidity of the labour element of the total capital was far less viscous becuase of inherent cultural and linquistic barriers. Recently in one of the Irish daily’s I read an article about how well Ireland did with the influx of Polish workers who were Polands brightest. This would to a degree counter argue Krugman but he is actually correct because only those who are truly fluent can repartriate with the greatest of ease so as Ireland turns back on the valve of emigration we look to English speaking parts of the world so again at the end of the day Krugman is correct.
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If we are in a hole, then we ought to accept responsibility for it. And some of us have to eat an awful lot of humble pie. I am thinking of the Kildare Street Circus, IBEC, ICTU, RTE, I-Times, various special interests.
If the Germans are in a position of strength, it is because they work hard, save hard, and expect very severe standards from the German public sector. In the real world you get results for your hard work and equally so for your incompetence.
We can fix it, but it means a massive generational effort to reform the institutional moras that is stiffling Irish society.
I don’t think Germany is in charge of the EU. They are in a position of being able to switch off the nonsense coming from Brussels. And other big countries like Britain, France and Italy have clout. So also do heavy net contributors like the Netherlands and Sweden.
ITEM 3:
ANON – AUSTERITY / IRELAND
The Irish state has not had any austerity measures.
The pension levy has been shoved hamfisted on current workers to pay for retired workers, in order to distract from the 80 Billion Euro hole in the public sector pension plan. Disgraced clowns like Rody Molloy and sNeary are getting their full pensions. You can rest assured that the nepotists in the state system are not seriously affected by it, and will still end up doing well out of the entire deal.
There has been a range of stealth taxes introduced to annoy people, and to justify the existence of the oversized civil service, and oversized local authorities. In other words the stealth taxes are being used to cover up inefficiency.
And some frontline staff on the HSE have lost their temporary contracts. (But the layers of management are still not rationalized, and consultants reports are still being produced to let everybody off the hook).
Austerity ? No, that is not real austerity. Because if there was real austerity, the state would not be borrowing 20 Billion Euro per year just to sustain the Irish lifestyle.
Let’s start with the Colm McCarthy report.
Economy Rigging 1 