Treasures from the threads number 82 - Irish Bailout

Two consecutive comments to the Lenihan letter of November 2010 requesting the Irish Bailout from the Troika, released following an FOI request and published in the Irish Times, linked here:

LeoRegan

Now the sovereignty is gone, emigration of young people from 15 -24 was 70000 in the two years to last April, there is over 7billion paid in interest a year by the Irish government, and the 64 billion debt from promissory note and bank rescue will burden the State for the next 40 years. Better to have defaulted, and then recovered after 10 years, according to your scenario, rather than live hopelessly, and condemn future generations to penury, or more emigration.

LeoRegan

So it does come down to a signature on a piece of paper. Very curious that the term, Irish Authorities is used. There is the Republic of Ireland and, there is the Government of the Republic. Now we have the Irish Authorities on behalf of whom, the Minister for Finance makes formal application for external assistance, and who will cooperate in preparation of a programme of assistance for the Irish State. Who constitutes the Irish Authorities precisely? 

An arrogant German lectures the Irish in Dublin.

One of the most senior ECB officials, Jörg Asmussen, has lectured the Irish over past policies and their mistaken belief that anything can be done to relieve the Irish Government and future generations of Irish citizens from the dreadful debt burdens that have so enriched Germany and once again impoverished the people of Ireland.

A report of the harangue may be found in this link to the Irish Times, some quotes from that report are here:

He noted, however, that the full cost of the promissory notes had been factored into the bailout programme.
“Any deviation from that programme should be considered very carefully indeed,” he warned.....

Acknowledging that the repayment of Anglo Irish Bank’s bondholders had been a “source of controversy”, he said the ECB viewed it as the least damaging option in ensuring that “no negative effects spilled over to other Irish banks or banks in other European countries”.
No senior bank bonds anywhere in the euro zone have been defaulted on since the crisis erupted in 2007.

Only 57% of householders have signed up for EU enforced Irish Household Charge

Details of ongoing protests in Ireland may be read from this link to the Irish Times.

Since the deadline to register to pay the new charge expired on 31st March, the Minister responsible Phil Hogan, claims that a registration figure of 57% represents a victory as when the legislation was enacted some forecasts predicted that compliance could be as low as 25%.

Most Western Countries, and any that have in these dire times managed to retain their democracies, such as non-EU Switzerland and Norway, would consider a tax compliance rate as low as 57%, amongst householders (surely the most responsible sector of society) as a portent of looming disaster!

A ten minute video of the large 31st March Dublin protest against the charge may be viewed from a posting placed on this blog yesterday.

About two thirds of Irish homeowners boycotting household taxes!

EU Source reported in Ireland as stating EFSF to replace Irish Promissory notes

The source of this extraordinary report is the Irish Examiner, linked here and the exact quote is as follows:

"The broad idea is to use the EFSF to replace the promissory notes, to try to use it to further strengthen the Irish banking sector so that Irish banks can regain market funding under better conditions," an EU source was quoted as saying.

The plan would involve the EFSF issuing a long maturity bond, or bonds, worth €28bn. These would come with low interest rates and replace the State’s obligation to pay €3.1bn annually over a 10-year period.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/deal-on-anglo-notes-nearing-completion-189382.html#ixzz1rBPXUiQm

Has IMF lost $100 billion from Congress?

Careful readers may have noted in my earlier posting about the IMF this afternoon, the first paragraph of my quote from Bloomberg referred to $500 Billion while the second paragraph and the postings headline mentioned $600 Billion.

Researching the discrepancy I came across this report of yesterday in the Daily Caller, linked here "As the Eurozone takes a turn for the worse and chatter heats up about more European Union and IMF bailouts across the continent, Republicans in Congress are pushing to rescind the $100 billion set-aside."

A report, linked here, in the Irish Echo, also has interesting detail on Tim Geitner and the first Irish bail out with the risk of default or potential non-repayment of an IMF advance having been considered a possibility worthy of discussion.

Steve Liesman has been tweeting on the same topic from CNBC as may be seen from here.

Detail behind the Irish Bailout

The Irish Times, this morning has an article, revealing some of the goings on which led to the Irish Bailout, a crucial step in the attempt to protect the Continent's corrupted banking system. It is linked from here, and the following gives a flavour:

SEPTEMBER 24th “THE WORLD CHANGED FOR US AND THE EURO ZONE”

The concern in Brussels about Ireland intensified almost immediately. At a meeting in the commission on September 24th, officials reviewed data from Dublin on the new plan for the banks, which was to be published on September 30th.

As the cost of attempting to rescue Anglo Irish Bank ballooned, the total bill for bank bailouts would rise €17 billion to €45 billion and possibly as high as €50 billion. In the new worst-case scenario, Ireland was looking at a budget deficit of 32 per cent of gross domestic product. This was almost 11 times the EU limit. No one could remember a deficit like it.

“That was the first time that everything or close to everything was revealed to us from the regulators in Ireland. After that the world changed for us and probably changed for the rest of the euro zone,” says a commission source.

Many individual names appear in the account, but the roles of Schauble and Lagarde are at the forefront, with their controlled bit-players such as Rehn always evident. The following extract provides a sample of the detail :

Lenihan went to Brussels on the Tuesday evening for a scheduled meeting of eurozone finance ministers. Arriving late due to fog at Brussels airport, he was the last man into the meeting and came under huge pressure from Schäuble to leave immediately and announce henceforth that Ireland was applying for aid. Christine Lagarde, the French minister, backed Schäuble. However, Lenihan argued that he had no mandate to negotiate a bailout. He was backed by Austrian minister Josef Pröll and, at a follow-on meeting the next day, by British chancellor George Osborne. That night, however, the euro-zone ministers endorsed moves to intensify “short and focused” preparations for a rescue plan. The game was almost up.

An important account, especially if the EU is ever to be brought to face a Nuremburg style reckoning, which it most assuredly now fully deserves!