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.
More than welcome.
ReplyDeleteDiarmuid, I've been reading your blog(s) for a while now, and I am incensed by it all, but embarrassed to say that I don't really understand the basics of it - although I know we're being ripped off. I'm sure I represent a large proportion of people, if more people understood what a 'bond' is, what and 'unsecured' bond is, what a 'promissory note' is etc. then more people might be as incensed about what's happening and get behind the movement. With the fiscal treaty, all I can hear is shouts of "but where will the money come from?!" - presumably if people could understand that the money is already there but at the moment its being used to pay back these unsecured bonds...
ReplyDeleteCan you recommend a site or book that would explain the basic concepts to me in plain english??
And why do you think there's no media coverage of these bonds being paid out? Surely its huge in the context of what's happening here at the moment? I just can't understand it.
Hats off to you for the hard work, and keep it up.
Thanks.
I'll point you to a post on my other blogsite, hopefully it helps:
ReplyDeletehttp://thechatteringmagpie14.blogspot.com/2012/01/oh-dem-bonds-in-laymans-language.html
The Promisorry Notes are different again, don't carry near the weight of a bond. In 2010 Anglo was in serious trouble with imminent bonds due; at that stage it was a zombie bank, no depositors, could have been let go to its creditors without any legal repercussions for us, but the ECB - fearing contagion if those bonds weren't paid - 'allowed' our Central Bank to print an additional €30.7bn, which was given to Anglo, in turn given to bondholders; the Irish people didn't benefit by even a cent from that money. Because the Central Bank can't just willy-nilly print money, the Irish Government gave them 'letters of comfort', the so-called Promissory Notes. At so many levels, even the legal, this could have been challenged, could still be challenged if someone had the time and money; at the most basic level, however, it's simply wrong.