The Dirty Dozen w/e Mar 4th 2012

Every week money is bled from the Irish banking system to pay foreign bonds, money produced directly or indirectly (injections from the government, profits from customers) by the Irish economy, money badly needed to kickstart that same Irish economy, money extorted from us under threat by the ECB.

Every week in Ballyhea and Charleville we've been marching in protest against this injustice. This coming Sunday, March 4th, is the first anniversary of the first march; if necessary we will continue to fight this battle on our own but this week at least we'd like some support - join us, please. Meeting at 11.30am in Ballyhea, at the church car-park.

The Dirty Dozen w/e Feb 26th 2012

Today, Monday 20th February 2012, AIB pays an unsecured bond of £750,000,000, which translates to approx. €911,300,000. There are those who say that the bank bonds payments is a dead issue, that it doesn't matter anymore; almost a billion euro going from an Irish bank to a British financial institution at a time when our economy is going through the floor, when Irish business is crying out for investment the banks can't afford to offer - that doesn't matter? €19bn in bank bonds leaving our economy this year, €55bn leaving over the next four years, that doesn't matter? What's left in the Irish banking system to invest in Irish business?

While that money is going out our overseer government will be carrying out the orders of our new slavemasters the ECB/EU/IMF troika and bringing in austerity budgets combining increased taxation/spending cuts of €3.8bn (2012), €3.5bn (2013), €3.1bn (2014), €2bn (2015) - we're going to GROW our way out of this mess? Oh, AND we're going to destroy €3.1bn every March 1st?

Comical Kenny and Happy Gilmore fiddle on...

The Dirty Dozen w/e Feb 19th 2012

The next 12 on a long list. On Wednesday Anglo will pay €2.3m, Bank of Ireland will pay €271.6m; next Monday AIB coughs up €864.6m, all unsecured bonds. If those latter two big bonds were from Anglo there would be more outcry, but where do you think BoI and AIB will get those funds, from whom? Yes, they're making money for jam now on the ECB's latest inter-banking scam, but much of the cash for these bonds is coming from the overcharged Irish public, much also from the 'injection' of billions from the Irish exchequer. Please - Anglo is by far the most toxic, but directly or indirectly, ALL these banks are giving our money to their failed bondholders; we should protest every cent.

The Dirty Dozen w/e Feb 12th 2012

All I'm showing here are the next 12 bonds that will be paid out by the Irish banks; the complete list would simply swamp people, over 300 bonds yet to be paid, totalling €55bn for the years 2012/13/14/15. Again I ask - from where will this money come?

Those banks do have many of our billions still in their coffers, and the easy money they're going to make from the ECB's 'Longer Term Refinancing Operation' con-job will also help their balance sheet (banks across Europe get money from the ECB at 1%, with which they purchase various government bonds paying 6% - and who do you think is going to foot THAT bank-profit bill?), as will the extra they get from refusing to pass on the ECB base lending rate cuts, but €55bn in four years? They'll be back to us, begging bowls out yet again.

Next bond up is €20m today, Monday, unsecured, from EBS; that will be paid without a single remark from any of our media, as was another €20m unsecured bond from Anglo on Friday last, even as pressure is put on every government department to find savings of a million here, a million there. Is it just too much hard work for our media generals to try and understand what's happening?