No change this week, except 'the big one' - Anglo on Jan 25th, €1.25bn unsecured - is that bit closer. I urge you though - look also at the other bonds, at the last two in the new dozen in particular. Two unsecured bonds, one from AIB, the other Bank of Ireland, and coming to over another €1bn between them. These payments are killing Irish banks, and by extension killing Irish business, which by extension again is killing all growth and with it, our chances of getting out of this hole.
Diarmuid,
ReplyDeleteThank you for keeping this blog going. I visit every so often to remind myself of the enormity of what has been foisted onto the Irish people by big business, bad politics and inept public servants. I am being taxed to pay for this, I am paying tithes on my insurance policies, I am paying usurious interest rates to pTSB (ILP)all so that this administration can support and prop up private enterprise. The troika can say that we,the Irish people, brought this on ourselves but I would have expected that our lawmakers should have learned from and legislated after our previous mistakes. Bailout of AIB after ICI (£400m in 1984), PMPA which led to increased costs of insurances to joe public for years. Yet the whole thing groundhogs again with Quinn Insurance. Dont forget that we are bailing out financial entities that took billion euro profits over the past years.I dont mind being taxed to support national and local government but I do mind bailing out private enterprises and I especially resent that it seems to be the case that they will be allowed to 'recover' so that they can revert to 'normal business'. Which largely got us in this mess in the first place. Maximisation of profits and minimising of costs to generate maximum profitability is perfectably acceptable but cannot be supported by the safety net of public finances. Risk taking can have its rewards but the downside is that one can get burned. Maybe we need to have legislation, as in the home mortgage market, so that sales transactions for bonds and shares carry the specific warning that the investment carries a risk of a decrease as well an increase in value!. Why not tax this activity more to create a fund to finance the inevitable failures, a la the insurance industry?. Regards and keep up the good fight. John
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