Irish debt crisis - your guide

I am now a confident enough to provide you with an in-depth guide to the Irish debt crisis. Why is that? It's because, nobody really knows WTF is going on and I may as well set you straight on that.

If somebody tells you lies, and you base your understanding on those lies, any conclusions you come to about an issue are going to be flawed. All the information you are getting is being fed through a filter of spin, obfuscation and plain untruth. The biggest untruth of all, the big lie, being the idea that the Euro is good for Europe.

The Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, has conducted the Irish Debt Crisis by deceiving the Irish public about the problem. This is what he had to say last week:

Brian Lenihan also said that if the Government had been reticent in public comment about contact with our European partners and the International Monetary Fund, it had been to protect the taxpayer.


He said it was the job of the Government to protect the taxpayer and that is what it is doing.


Minister Lenihan said there was no question of loading an unspecified burden on the taxpayer.

It was not just Lenihan. They were all at it, busily reassuring the Irish public that they had no plans to go for a bailout. Don't worry too much about the commentators who style themselves experts. Their analysis is as flawed as yours and mine because they are being fed the same shit. Some, at best have put together a helpful timeline. Perhaps President Sarkozy can shed some light:

On Saturday French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the "unprecedented effort" being made by Ireland to sort out its budget but said he could not imagine that Dublin would not raise tax rates.

The Irish have two choices; raise taxes - by increases in actual tax or stealth, or cut spending. In Britain, taxes have risen both in terms of open taxation but also by stealth - ultimately, that is the job of "quantitive easing" which devalues the pound and increases costs of basic necessities. The trick is to raise the level of stealth taxation up to, but before people take to the streets. It's the classic boiling frog theory.

But back to Ireland. "Contagion" is the word. If Ireland fails, the Euro is in big trouble. At least that is what Mr Rumpy Pumpy says.

Herman Van Rompuy said the financial meltdown engulfing Ireland, Greece and other EU countries could spark the collapse of the entire European project.
Mr Rompuy said: 'We must all work together in order to survive with the eurozone, because if we do not survive with the eurozone, we will not survive with the European Union.' 
Of course, this is predicated upon another lie, which is that countries cannot survive outside the EU. What he really means is that this whole, catastrophic waste of money and ceding of sovereignty wil collapse under the weight of reality, so it is in his best interests to deflect our attention away from that fact.

So, what do we know so far? We know that the Irish Crisis is affecting us all - just look at the astonishing response from George Osborne, our own chancellor. The only comfort in that is his "support" is couched in so many ambiguities that it could mean nothing at all.

Why does it affect us? It affects us not at all except for one thing. We are bound by treaty to shore up the Euro, despite not being in it, and you have Alistair Darling to thank for that.

But the biggest effect is the perception about BIG LIE. Now that the Euro is in virtual meltdown, only still alive by virtue of a life support machine, the politicians are increasingly desperate. Lying, for them is the first option. Can there be a noble reason to do this?

What I find very strange is the attitude of the Irish to sovereignty.

The country is divided, but largely indifferent, on the question of whether the events of last week were a betrayal of the men and women of 1916: 47 per cent said yes, but 53 per cent said no.

So far, I think this reflects the success the rulers have had in deceiving the public, but it cannot continue.Even the Irish are not that thick.

Sorry to invoke Godwin's law here, but you have to fight evil when you first see it. Hitler did not start by gassing six million Jews. By the time the German people understood what was happening, it was too late. And they had fallen victim to THE BIG LIE.

UPDATE: According to the Telegraph:

Britain’s contribution to the bail-out is expected to be between £7billion and £9billion depending on how it is funded, the extent of EU and euro zone guarantees for the Irish and any bilateral British aid.
Under terms of an agreement signed by Labour in May, Britain must pay into to a £51billion EU financial crisis fund which will form a key part of the bail-out, potentially costing Britain billions. 
Scorched Earth. In the dying days of Labour rule, Ministers decided to destroy our economy because what they had already done in this line wasn't enough! But the real tragedy, and the one we must now face, is that the Coalition do not have the balls to tear up this deal. We have a weak government that is taking us headlong into stagnation and poverty.

We have not changed the system or the status quo. We have merely changed a few domestic details. If ever there was a need for a revolution, it is now.

9 comments:

King Athelstan said...

Europe is good, Europe is everything, we are one Europe, Europe will save us from ourselves, what? You don't agree? You must be a racist then surely?

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Thanks Athelstan. You have more or less distilled their argument to the absurd proposition they are making.

Houdini said...

But even this isn't the whole truth is it?

Probably the biggest lie is that Ireland was a success economically at any time, as was spouted constantly by Blair and Labour in the 90's in order to get elected and accept their policies.

Ireland has ALWAYS been a basket case waiting to happen. Their whole economic structure was subsidised to a massive degree sine the early seventies by EU/EEC/Common Market grants. Their economy has always relied on being given huge amounts of cash by Europe and they had NO SUCCESS of their own. That's how they could to attract so much business to what is a useless and deprived little backwater shithole. Subsidies.

Now of course EU subsidies go to the likes of Bulgaria and, of course lest we forget, French farmers, so Ireland's funds have been cut of late.

Not the main problem of course, but one of them, and one that nobody wants to mention.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Houdini, it kind of bears out my suspicion that it is all a giant Ponzi scheme.

Houdini said...

The test of Cameron's mettle is going to be how he handles the CAP, which needs not only restructuring but scrapping altogether.

I might be wrong and things may have changed since this, but it's amazing to think that CAP accounts for 60% of the EU budget, I think, and France takes a full 60% of CAP for itself, effectively meaning that France gets 40% or thereabouts of the whole EU subsidy budget alone. What state would they be in without it?

Rebel Saint said...

Thieving, lying, conniving, duplicitous, spineless bastards.

But who's going to lead the revolution? There's plenty of people writing about the need for a revolution but who will lead the charge?

We've now got a generation of people who are so socially conditioned that all it takes to get them to comply is the threat of being called a racist, a bigot or a homophobe; or the distraction of a reality TV show.

Bob said...

Not all the people were believing Lenihans denial of a bailout. £20Bn was taken out of Irish banks during the week he was playing his dangerous game of bluff and double bluff.
Portugal will be next. Struggling against an IMF bailout while having no room to manouvere because it's tied to the euro. Strong currency in a bankrupt country. It will never work.
This episode in the Irish parliament was funny.
Apologies for the sweary words but it's ok as they're elected leaders...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD-xxoQwOo4&feature=player_embedded

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Bob, if more people told it like it is we may never have gotten into this mess.

strapworld said...

WW.

I climbed unto my trusted horse (well donkey) I polished my breast plate and sword. I filled my quiver with arrows and re-strung my long bow. Living near to Owyn Glyndwr's birthplace I rode to the top of the hills and shouted blood curdling chants hoping to be joined by rebellious welshmen.

Sadly, I returned home very cold and very wet defeated!

Your assessment of Cameron and Co I believe is so accurate. We have literally gone from the fying pan into the fire. No bottle therefore we have no chance.

But, there are, I believe, many people who share our views.