THE DIRTY DOZEN w/e Jun 3rd 2012

LOOK DAD - ANOTHER MONSTER!
FRANKENSTEIN 1
In 1999 the EU created what they hoped would be a new Superhero currency, the euro; instead, they had created a monster, a Frankenstein currency. Within a few years the monster had broken free of its chains and wreaked havoc in the economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. It was totally out of control, its creators in central Europe oblivious to the damage being caused out on the periphery, even pleased with the booty being sent back to their own areas.

In Ireland we know the damage done by that monster. Over €100bn our banks have so far been forced to pay in failed bonds; €62.8bn we - the Irish people - have so far contributed to those banks, and it's not over yet. €40bn the banks say they still have to pay in bonds; we say €55bn but sure who's counting? Certainly not anyone in RTE, TV3, no-one in national radio, barely a murmur from our national newspapers - where have you heard or read about the €2.25bn AIB bond due today, a bond taken out in May 2008 when the bank was privately owned?

Then again that's par for the course with our national media, who are STILL presenting the sellout by Michael Noonan on the recent €3.1bn Promissory Note as a good 'deal'. Want to know what REALLY happened? Let's say you owe €3,100 to a local loan shark, due by Mar 31st; your local Credit Union has already agreed to lend you the money at a very low rate of interest but you instead go your local bank and take out a loan of €3,100 at a higher interest rate but to be repaid not by you but by your son/daughter in 12 years' time - the loan shark gets his money but you're off the hook, your kids now the bait. Multiply that by a million, that's the Noonan Promissory Note deal.

FRANKENSTEIN 2
In July 2011 Michael Noonan signed up to an agreement which, when ratified by the various governments involved, will see the creation of a body (the ESM, European Stability Mechanism) that will have unlimited and unprecedented power, total immunity from any kind of investigation let alone prosecution written into its design documents. We know we have committed to an initial contribution of €1.27bn to this monster, rising first to €11.1bn, thence - and with only seven days' notice - to any sum the ESM itself demands.

The ECB has accepted absolutely no responsibility for its own massive failings in the creation of Frankenstein 1, the euro, has instead forced the entire cost of all the damage done - and still being done - on nations and peoples across Europe. They are the ones behind the creation of Frankenstein 2, the ESM, they are the ones who will be hidden behind those walls to do whatever, whenever and wherever they want. Transparency, accountability? Words redundant in this new world.

This Thurday we can rock that whole rotten edifice and force a rethink right across Europe, force a redesign of those two monsters. Vote No. The bribery/blackmail clause re access to the fund? This government agreed to the addition of that clause to the ESM Treaty, AFTER it had been first fully negotiated and signed off; if we vote No they can have it removed or simply refuse to sign off on that Treaty, and on any clause enabling that Treaty.

Rant over, the bonds:

THE DIRTY DOZEN w/e May 27th 2012

No bond too big, no bond too small, the Irish banks will pay them all.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, IL&P - a bank deader than any dodo - will pay a bond of €2.2m, unguaranteed unsecured but sure who's watching?

Next Monday, May 28th, AIB will pay a bond worth more than a thousand times that, a bond of €2.25bn taken out four years ago, May 28th 2008, when AIB was still a private bank.

We now own AIB, just as we now own IL&P, acquired both banks during the recent Troubles. Why? So they could rob us, the Irish people, to pay their bondholders. What's this someone said lately - if you're robbing Peter to pay Paul, Peter is going to be very happy with you. So as the troika continue to pat Paddy on the head, dread-driven Paddy continues to tip the ould forelock.

THE DIRTY DOZEN w/e May 20th 2012

Today, May 15th, without comment anywhere except on sites such as this, Anglo paid an unsecured bond of £60,000,000 - that's sixty millon pounds sterling, around €73m. On May 28th, AIB (another debt-ridden bank we now own) will pay a bond of €2.25bn.

I'm asking people, please RT this, Share this information, share this site. Bond by bond this bank debt is being transferred to sovereign; every cent that goes out from Anglo, from AIB, is our money. Before long one or other of those banks will be back to us again, begging bowl out again, the final recapitalisation again.

THE DIRTY DOZEN w/e May 13th 2012

2008
National debt: approx. €44bn
Pension Reserve Fund: approx. €20bn
Net national debt: approx. €30bn.
Budget deficit: approx. €13bn

2012
National debt: approx. €164bn
Pension Reserve Fund: approx. €5bn
Net national debt: approx. €159bn, and rising fast
Budget deficit: approx. €14bn

The troika are thrilled with us for meeting all their targets, the bondholders (the bottom-feeders of the secondary market especially) are amazed at but grateful to us for our generosity, but I ask you - anyone; please tell me what the policy of our governments of appeasing the ECB has gained for us, the Irish people, over the last few years.

We were told it was to save our banking system - that's worked out well for the bondholders, still being paid in full, profit margins and all; how are the people faring at the hands of those banks, how is business faring?

And still our economy bleeds money. €114.7m last week in three bonds, all unsecured, but not a line anywhere in our national media, not a word from TV or radio, not even on the business sections.

Look below at what's coming: €304.6m in ten unsecured bonds, a mouth-watering €2.251bn in two so-called 'covered' bonds. Covered by what, a guarantee issued under false information? One bond, for €2.25bn was taken out by AIB on May 28th 2008 when that bank was still privately owned. We now own it (99.8%), the billions going out of this country on May 28th is our money, apart from the 0.2% - that's €4.5m.

Just reflect on that for a moment. 0.2% of one bond is €4.5m, two lotto wins; that means the bond itself is 500 times €4.5m.

Will there be even a murmur about it?