Ireland should default on their debt and force the banker thugs to take a haircut on their investments. And that’s precisely what might happen after their craven and corrupt government falls. The new government will be much more militant and should simply repudiate the debt.
These debts were incurred, not to pay for public programs, but by private wheeler-dealers seeking nothing but their own profit. Yet ordinary Irish citizens are now bearing the burden of those debts.
And you have to wonder what it will take for serious people to realize that punishing the populace for the bankers’ sins is worse than a crime; it’s a mistake.
Ireland is being asked to cut to social services, slash wages, renegotiate contracts, and dismantle the welfare state so that undercapitalized banks in France and Germany can get their pound of flesh. But, why? They’re the ones who bought the bonds. No one put a gun to their head. They knew they could lose money if Irish banks went south. That’s the risk they took. “You pays your money, and you takes your chances.”
Mish
Why the average Irish citizen should have to bail out foreign bondholders is beyond me, but I do note that the same happened in the US with taxpayers footing an enormous bill for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG.
At least in Europe they are fighting back, with major protests in Britain, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. That’s what the Tea Party is about here. Our current international banking system is rotten and corrupt at the core. It needs to be dismembered and replaced with something more equitable. The first step is for European countries to default on the debt made by private bankers and institutions.