Dublin has played by the book. It has taken pre-emptive steps to please the markets and the EU. It has done an IMF job without the IMF. Indeed, is has gone further than the IMF would have dared to go.
It has imposed draconian austerity measures. The solidarity of the country has been remarkable. There have no riots, and no terrorist threats.
Yet as of today it is paying 5.48pc to borrow for ten years, or near 8pc in real terms once deflation is factored in. This is crippling and puts the country on an unsustainable debt trajectory if it lasts for long.
Yet Greece is able to borrow from the EU at 5pc and from the IMF at a staggered rate far below that (still too high for the policy to work, but that is another matter). These were the terms of the 110bn joint bail-out.
To add insult to injury Ireland is having SUBSIDIZE Greece to meet its share of the rescue fund.
I am sure you can all see the absurdity of this. It has moral hazard written all over it, and shows what happens once a dysfunctional system twists itself into ever greater knots rather confronting the core issue.
Yes, I know that the Irish and Greek maturities are different but the fact is that Greece has extracted better terms by letting matters get further out of hand.
George Papandreou's PASOK has benefitted from dilly-dallying on the first set of austerity measures, and -- not to be too diplomatic about it -- by insulting the Germans with demands for war reparations. Hotheads also set fire to downtown Athens and Thessaloniki, improving the effect.
If I were Irish -- (and I suppose in a sense I am: Sir John Parnell was my great, great, great grandfather) -- I would be a little annoyed.
#1
Counting the number of Christian churches that have burned in the last 10 years and the number of mosques [not done by their own members], we can confidentely say - NO. In fact, it is rather clear that for years the ruling caste has been displaying very pubic ["knuckle dragging, bible thumping, gun totting"] Christian-phobia bent.
#3
pho·bi·a /ˈfoʊbiə/ [foh-bee-uh]
noun
a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it.
Nothing irrational about not rejecting Islam in its attempt to create a global celiphate/world governance, which includes the United States of America.
#5
..the ruling caste has been displaying very pubic ["knuckle dragging, bible thumping, gun totting"] Christian-phobia bent.
also very public too! LOL
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
08/26/2010 19:47 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Yeah we're Islamicphobic and Mexican phobic all of a sudden, in an election year.
Perhaps people should ask themselves why Islam is suddenly on peoples radar. I mean anything happen in the last decade or so that might make some people a little less weary of one religion over the other?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
