Cowen and Lenihan economic managment lashed by the ECB [Archive]

PaddyJoe

15-01-2011, 01:38 AM

DCon

15-01-2011, 01:42 AM

He probably does not fully appreciate that Lenihan and Cowen work for the Golden Circle, and not the Irish State.

He should be told.

Newsy

15-01-2011, 01:50 AM

This could be the reason why Europe hit us so hard with the interest rate.

'Next time, you guys WILL listen'!!!!!

C. Flower

15-01-2011, 04:39 AM

Quite stunning criticism of the Irish Government coming from a senior figure in the ECB. I can't remember anyone in the European establishment using such blunt and undiplomatic language about the government of a Eurozone state before. Coming on top of the Sarkozy complaint about Irish corporation tax yesterday its quite shocking. So have all our supposed 'friends' in Europe been completely alienated by Fianna Fail?:confused:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/0115/1224287579434.html

I'm not pursuaded he's telling the truth. It was the liquidity crisis in the banks in September surely that brought the IMF/EU in. On its own the fiscal/budget problem we could have resolved. But yes, they want the knife out in Ireland. Bini Smaghi is mainly concerned to have us believe that a new Government in Ireland could not change the toxic arrangements made by FF.

... and of course, the austerity plan will make everything much worse, and can't possibly solve the budgetary and banking crises.

The wolves are circling. They want to eat us alive as much as possible and have no interest in our future.

Mr Bini Smaghi said mounting pressure last year called for emergency measures. “Markets waited and waited and since they saw no policy reactions they started to lose confidence in the course of the summer. There was a downgrade – in August – but there was no policy reaction, no announcement that a tough budget was in preparation and no announcement of the measures.
“The loss of confidence also affected the banking system and this created a spiral which led to the crisis and in the end the request for financial assistance.”
He said it was “totally wrong” to say the ECB forced the Government’s hand and insisted the EU-IMF austerity plan would not ruin the economy. “It’s important for the Irish people and for the Irish politicians to recognise that to some extent the crisis is the result of problems that Ireland built for itself. It’s counterproductive to look for scapegoats,” he said. Furthermore, any new government must fulfil the commitments set out in the rescue plan.
“Countries’ commitments cannot change with every change in government, so the Government has committed Ireland for the period of the programme. It would be dramatic for Ireland if just by changing government you renege on the promises that Ireland as a sovereign has made to the other [countries],” he said.

This needs to be read together with Sarkozy's comments on Corporation Tax.

SeanD6

15-01-2011, 11:42 AM

The wolves are circling. They want to eat us alive as much as possible and have no interest in our future.

In the actual interview in the Irish Times, Mr Bini-Smaghi leaves us in no uncertain terms regarding our future:

'Ireland's meltdown is the outcome of the policies of its elected politicians'

...“It would be dramatic for Ireland if just by changing government you renege on the promises that Ireland as a sovereign has made.”

“This kind of a model can apply very sharp shocks to taxation for the Irish taxpayer. But that’s to some extent the choice that the Irish people have made”

“Look at those countries which defaulted, like Argentina, Pakistan, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire. Do the Irish people want to go through the same experience?”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0115/1224287578339.html?via=rel

So there, anyone still under the impression that Ireland is still a sovereign democracy? I blame our 'opposition' just as much. FF knew exactly what they were doing when they put a FG man in charge of the bankrupt Anglo. Our futures have been sold down the river by our elected politicians. Labour, FG, and SF could have had their no-confidence vote ages ago, but each was too busy with their petty horse-trading, ever eager to secure their imminent victory at the next elections. The perilous consequences for us, the people 'on the street' - figuratively and practically, has been of little concern to them. All eyes were, and have been, on the Taoiseach's office; our fates were just a side effect.

Griska

15-01-2011, 12:43 PM

But wasn't the Eurozone (temporarily anyway) saved? Forget about punitive repayments, we stood tall for our European colleagues and their banks.
Go team Ireland!

Apjp

15-01-2011, 12:57 PM

I'm not pursuaded he's telling the truth. It was the liquidity crisis in the banks in September surely that brought the IMF/EU in. On its own the fiscal/budget problem we could have resolved. But yes, they want the knife out in Ireland. Bini Smaghi is mainly concerned to have us believe that a new Government in Ireland could not change the toxic arrangements made by FF.

... and of course, the austerity plan will make everything much worse, and can't possibly solve the budgetary and banking crises.

The wolves are circling. They want to eat us alive as much as possible and have no interest in our future.

This needs to be read together with Sarkozy's comments on Corporation Tax.

He says its counterproductive to look for scapegoats. Notice how he says Ireland did this and that and never says who did it with us. He is scapegoating Ireland like many in the ECB. Sarkozy is scapegoating Ireland by trying to tell us how to tax our own country. Osborne and Merkel are also scapegoating Ireland with this high interest rate. Chopra was more merciful than these bastards, and thats saying something!!! Luxembourg is one of the few countries not jumping on the paddy hole in the pot bandwagon. They are telling Germany you cant keep pushing the Irish people. I guess being a small country and not in the periphery they have sympathy for Ireland. But we dont need sympathy. 1 in 5 euros are in Irish banks. We need a government that will blackmail the 3 big scapegoating nations that are actually the most indebted ones of all. Whether it happens this time or in 2016, that is all that can turn things around.

SeanD6

15-01-2011, 12:58 PM

@Griska

Yes, it has been gloriously saved. The fat-cats of Ireland and the rest of Europe are ever grateful as they sit licking their paws, somewhere between Zurich and Geneva. They have delivered us safely into the hands of the Chinese. Perhaps that's a good thing - at least the Chinese don't pretend to 'do' democracy like we do.

I clearly remember our opposition leaders smiling as they had their pictures taken outside Commissioner Rehn's office on Dawson street when he came to inform us all that Brussels will be assuming direct control of the Oireachtas. They did not seem terribly bothered.

Angela Merkel has run out of patience and money in trying to bail-out her own banks by making sure that the bonds they hold of Irish banks get repaid via the Irish Government's balance sheet. Now the Chinese have come to buy the left-overs at a discounted price. Their delegation to Europe which expressed interest in buying Spanish sovereign debt is just the beginning. Wait and see.

Apjp

15-01-2011, 12:59 PM

In the actual interview in the Irish Times, Mr Bini-Smaghi leaves us in no uncertain terms regarding our future:

So there, anyone still under the impression that Ireland is still a sovereign democracy? I blame our 'opposition' just as much. FF knew exactly what they were doing when they put a FG man in charge of the bankrupt Anglo. Our futures have been sold down the river by our elected politicians. Labour, FG, and SF could have had their no-confidence vote ages ago, but each was too busy with their petty horse-trading, ever eager to secure their imminent victory at the next elections. The perilous consequences for us, the people 'on the street' - figuratively and practically, has been of little concern to them. All eyes were, and have been, on the Taoiseach's office; our fates were just a side effect.

Argentina has been doing ok the last few years. They are recovering well thanks to a brave finance team.

SeanD6

15-01-2011, 01:03 PM

At least the Argentinians acknowledge that they were still suffering from the long-term detrimental effects of being governed by a military junta. Our junta is still in power.

TotalMayhem

15-01-2011, 01:21 PM

Argentina has been doing ok the last few years.

Not quite. Arhentina 'sought help' from the IMF again around the same time as Ireland in Nov 2010.

DCon

15-01-2011, 01:33 PM

Another round of stress tests on the way. The ECB are learning not to trust FF, but keep confusing FF with Ireland when they talk

Europe needs to do a new round of stress tests on banks after Ireland's flawed vetting of lenders in 2010 raised doubts about a parallel Europe-wide health check, a European Central Bank executive board member was quoted as saying.

"Unfortunately the fact that the Irish stress test turned out not to be credible affected the credibility of all the other stress tests," Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said in an interview in Saturday's The Irish Times newspaper.

"This is why we need a new round of stress tests with more peer review and control on what national authorities are doing."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70E0XP20110115

Captain Con O'Sullivan

15-01-2011, 03:05 PM

Its all a long way from the two Brianos being at the heart of Europe ain't it?

Kid Ryder

15-01-2011, 06:26 PM

But wasn't the Eurozone (temporarily anyway) saved? Forget about punitive repayments, we stood tall for our European colleagues and their banks.
Go team Ireland!

You know the old saw I'm sure: Eaten bread is soon forgotten.

However cheer up! Cheer up! We still can be of use and serve the cause of Europe.

On the auction block.:rolleyes:;)

DCon

15-01-2011, 06:29 PM

Its all a long way from the two Brianos being at the heart of Europe ain't it?

Did they ever grant Elderfield the staff he said he needed?

Or re they happy to have an "outsider" in there so they can claim all is in good hands?

morticia

15-01-2011, 09:05 PM

Did they ever grant Elderfield the staff he said he needed?

Or re they happy to have an "outsider" in there so they can claim all is in good hands?

On that front I can reassure you. I've been periodically watching their HR page and they are hiring like crazy. What is more, I know someone hired recently, so it's not all HR spin....

Apjp

15-01-2011, 09:51 PM

On that front I can reassure you. I've been periodically watching their HR page and they are hiring like crazy. What is more, I know someone hired recently, so it's not all HR spin....

yeah well elderfield might be straight as an arrow but if he has any sense he'd have INBS and Anglo closed tomorrow. all it takes is himself and honohan to tell lenihan and the bollocks wont have a choice. imagine he said no to that. his head would be on the chopping block. I wouldnt mind working there meself one day. Be a good place to try and change things and prevent the same ***** happening again.

morticia

15-01-2011, 10:13 PM

yeah well elderfield might be straight as an arrow but if he has any sense he'd have INBS and Anglo closed tomorrow. all it takes is himself and honohan to tell lenihan and the bollocks wont have a choice. imagine he said no to that. his head would be on the chopping block. I wouldnt mind working there meself one day. Be a good place to try and change things and prevent the same ***** happening again.

TBH, I think the ECB/EU etc want Anglo and INBS closed too, but quietly and with little fuss, and more importantly, no welching on their senior bond-holders. You (or someone else earlier on this thread) are utterly correct in saying that Ajay Chopra and Co. are being much nicer to us than the EU. The IMF is interested in their own repayment, and are purist capitalists. According to the Higher Church of Mammon, if the bond holders made a bad bet, then they should be burned, such is the law of the unfettered markets.

The EU and ECB are interested, however, in making sure that their wider Euro banking system, and the Euro itself, does not collapse. To them, we are merely a weak link in a chain that must, reluctantly, be propped up in order to prevent a chain reaction.

It is therefore the case that the interests of the IMF are much more closely aligned with our own.

Bini-Smaghi is popping up to remind a new Government that default will result in a serious b!tch slapping. Dunno about you, but I find the tone of that article somewhat insulting. Coming from Italy, he's a fine one to lecture about the policies of elected (or should that be erected??) politicians. Not to mention excessive Govt debt, or deficits.

Or should that be "fine, upstanding MEMBERS of parliament"?? Anyone else see Silvio is up for allegedly messing with underage "ladies of negotiable affection"??

Disclaimer: That is not to say that he's totally wrong on all fronts; I'm not about to defend the Brians' mismanagement...

Apjp

16-01-2011, 12:32 AM

TBH, I think the ECB/EU etc want Anglo and INBS closed too, but quietly and with little fuss, and more importantly, no welching on their senior bond-holders. You (or someone else earlier on this thread) are utterly correct in saying that Ajay Chopra and Co. are being much nicer to us than the EU. The IMF is interested in their own repayment, and are purist capitalists. According to the Higher Church of Mammon, if the bond holders made a bad bet, then they should be burned, such is the law of the unfettered markets.

The EU and ECB are interested, however, in making sure that their wider Euro banking system, and the Euro itself, does not collapse. To them, we are merely a weak link in a chain that must, reluctantly, be propped up in order to prevent a chain reaction.

It is therefore the case that the interests of the IMF are much more closely aligned with our own.

Bini-Smaghi is popping up to remind a new Government that default will result in a serious b!tch slapping. Dunno about you, but I find the tone of that article somewhat insulting. Coming from Italy, he's a fine one to lecture about the policies of elected (or should that be erected??) politicians. Not to mention excessive Govt debt, or deficits.

Or should that be "fine, upstanding MEMBERS of parliament"?? Anyone else see Silvio is up for allegedly messing with underage "ladies of negotiable affection"??

Disclaimer: That is not to say that he's totally wrong on all fronts; I'm not about to defend the Brians' mismanagement...

haha yeah. define nice by the imf though? 3 meals a day?? they want to do what the ecb does but help mnc's in doing so. plus chopra has no qualms in closing hospital wards to help privitise medicine altogether. so it is more of who has a more vested interest in us failing politically and not faulting on unsovereign debt, not really that they are being nice. I'd have them all on a dinghy home tomorrow. they dont even deserve a plane ticket. I was just saying chopra wants to take all our assets, maybe leave the state broke, but just take what he can from us without looking like he is being too cruel. Personally i think if SF, the ULA and ourselves were in govt.(not that we have the numbers or that we will have so after the election(40 at best prob)) the IMF and the ecb would get very real very fast and back off giving us some breathing space if they ever want to see any of AIB's or BOI's money again never mind the two piggy banks. However that may be seen as a socialist pushing his own beliefs into the frame. The ECB are right about FF. But they scapegoat Ireland, Greece and now portugal and spain and they are blameless? me arse! im with max k on this one-financial terrorists the lot-imf, ecb and the bankers, FF, developers, bondholders.. you name it they all have a knife in our back.

PaddyJoe

16-01-2011, 01:01 AM

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi is very much the ECB 'enforcer'. Here he in October 2010 on Greece:

WASHINGTON (MNI) - If Greece were to restructure its sovereign debt, this would trigger the total collapse of its economy, European Central Bank Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi warmed Saturday. .......... Bini Smaghi argued that the ECB is "doing the right thing" by providing banks with the liquidity they need.
In this way "we are helping the transmission mechanism of monetary policy work better," he explained on a panel sponsored by Germany's DZ bank......Speaking about Greece and its IMF/Eurozone-sponsored recovery program, the central banker said, "We have to make sure it works," since "if Greece restructures it would have a total collapse of the economy."
My emphasis above. So if Bini Smaghi is the 'bad cop' who is the 'good cop'?
http://imarketnews.com/node/20552

DCon

16-01-2011, 02:21 PM

Trichet is quite clear in his comments below

"It's rather that we have a crisis of public finance in some nations," he said. "States that had spent more than they earned had to act."

He also reassured Germans that those countries with debt levels in excess of the prescribed regulations would be forced to act.

"The ECB is expecting governments in the eurozone to make enormous efforts to reduce debt," Trichet said. "Debts must be repaid. This is an issue of trust."

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14769401,00.html

C. Flower

16-01-2011, 05:23 PM

TBH, I think the ECB/EU etc want Anglo and INBS closed too, but quietly and with little fuss, and more importantly, no welching on their senior bond-holders. You (or someone else earlier on this thread) are utterly correct in saying that Ajay Chopra and Co. are being much nicer to us than the EU. The IMF is interested in their own repayment, and are purist capitalists. According to the Higher Church of Mammon, if the bond holders made a bad bet, then they should be burned, such is the law of the unfettered markets.

The EU and ECB are interested, however, in making sure that their wider Euro banking system, and the Euro itself, does not collapse. To them, we are merely a weak link in a chain that must, reluctantly, be propped up in order to prevent a chain reaction.

It is therefore the case that the interests of the IMF are much more closely aligned with our own.

Bini-Smaghi is popping up to remind a new Government that default will result in a serious b!tch slapping. Dunno about you, but I find the tone of that article somewhat insulting. Coming from Italy, he's a fine one to lecture about the policies of elected (or should that be erected??) politicians. Not to mention excessive Govt debt, or deficits.

Or should that be "fine, upstanding MEMBERS of parliament"?? Anyone else see Silvio is up for allegedly messing with underage "ladies of negotiable affection"??

Disclaimer: That is not to say that he's totally wrong on all fronts; I'm not about to defend the Brians' mismanagement...

A wind-down of the two main bankrupt banks and building societies, along with a radical contraction of those remaining, is part of the IMF Memorandum with Ireland. One of the reasons that the ECB was furious with Lenihan over the Credit Institutions (Stability) Bill is that the Bill provides for them to continue on, and doesn't provide for wind-up. As long as FF is in power, and quite likely FG, these politicians will trade off everything we have in exchange for grudging permission by the EU/IMF to keep Anglo going.

Kev Bar

16-01-2011, 05:43 PM

I have a lot of sympathy for those opposing our bucaneer corporate tax.
The slime in charge of this country bankrupt us all...require outside assistance while at the same time trying to undercut the outside hookers by offering the cheapest corporate blow jobs on the block.

As a race, we should be terminated with extreme prejudice. Or deported en masse to Madagascar.

DCon

17-01-2011, 07:55 AM

and Irish banks just get worse and worse

The latest data shows that Anglo Irish Bank and other lenders had borrowed €51bn (£43bn) from the Irish central bank by the end of December, under an obscure progamme listed in the balance sheet as "other assets".

This comes on top of €132bn in loans from the ECB itself, the figure normally tracked by analysts and itself 24pc of all ECB lending.

"This is a horror story: it shows the cataclysmic condition of the Irish banking system," said Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research. "The banks have borrowed €183bn in total, or 110pc of Irish GDP. They have burned through all their capital and a lot of their deposits as well. This is going to end up on the national debt".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8262982/Irish-lenders-besiege-central-bank-for-emergency-loans.html

TotalMayhem

17-01-2011, 08:22 AM

and Irish banks just get worse and worse

And who said they're getting better? (Besides Comical Lenny and his gang)

DCon

25-02-2011, 07:37 AM

A new report blames Bertie and the DoF for our economic woes.

Who'da thunk it?

A new report blames the 2002 Bertie Ahern Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat government for causing most of the damage to the Irish economy and criticises the Department of Finance for failing to stop wide-ranging tax breaks that fuelled the property boom.

The review of the Republic's Department of Finance by Canadian expert Rob Wright singles out the policies in those parties' 2002 election manifestos as contributing significantly to the 2008 property market crash.

Mr Wright also criticises Department of Finance officials for not carrying out any economic or budgetary analysis of the proposed tax cuts and the huge public spending programme the FF/PD government was planning.

He blames the impact of the social partnership process as another key reason for Ireland's current economic troubles, highlighting high public sector wages compared with those in the private sector.

He questions the methods available to Department of Finance officials to raise these kind of concerns with the then minister, Charlie McCreevy, and his successors, Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/ahern-blamed-for-bust-15095743.html#ixzz1ExREiumB

Captain Con O'Sullivan

25-02-2011, 08:27 AM

I've no doubt in my mind that the regulatory barriers in Ireland were deliberately lowered for the banks and in particular for Anglo Irish. There was also a de facto 'hands off' order emanating from the Irish government with regard to the Dublin IFSC.

The Financial Regulator's office has now been folded into the Central Bank's responsibilities and having read through the regulatory outlines for banks and other 'credit financial institutions' I have to say that regulation was and remains scanty if not down right non-existent.

There is the loose appearance of regulation and that is all that it is. Strange in a country which had an unlicensed bank called Ansbacher circulating like a china pig among the gombeenocracy not so long ago.

Irish banking regulation was and to a great extent remains a farce. No disrespect to Matthew Elderfield as I'm stil unsure about his role at the moment and he may have the best intentions but the FR role has been brought into the Central Bank for a reason and that reason to my mind is to cover it with Central Bank confidentiality bullshyte on behalf of the Department of Finance.

Captain Con O'Sullivan

25-02-2011, 08:35 AM

That report chimes with the analysis in the recent ECOFIN report which clearly shows nothing but bribery for a certain level of Boardroom public servants with pay rises running at between 9% to over 12% ... hush money to keep those who could see there was a fraud going on quiet.

Muriel who does the photocopying saw none of it and is now miserable because Briano and the boys are doing the 'shure we all partied' line but Muriel didn't party or saw no pay rise like that.

In any given organisation praise floats and shyte sinks. The praise in this instance was money for the top layers and plenty of it and now Muriel who does the photocopying gets the shyte.

Ireland Inc was not just mismanaged by incompetents. The economy was hijacked by oligarchs and the government over the last 15 to 20 years actually faciitated it for personal kickbacks.

Same thing that happened in Russia. Same as Latvia. Same operation that was ongoing in eastern european countries and the banks and the Irish oligarchy and their facilitators in Fianna Fail were at the heart of it.

Ahern, Cowen and Lenihan were and are nothing more than doormen for the Irish oligarchy in cahoots with certain interests in central and eastern Europe.

C. Flower

25-02-2011, 08:56 AM

What an excellent thread, that I've read from start to finish and so many posts that I agree with.

When I reach for the degree of punitive behaviour that these guys have in mind for Ireland, Cromwell comes to mind.

There will be no easy renegotiation. If it was down to the IMF/ECB we would be kept on life support just long enough to harvest all our reusable body parts for the private sector. After that, to hell or Connaught.

Savvy dealing with these people is not a way out. More to the point is to line up with the other states that are contesting the IMF neocon project in a different way, by attempted regime change.

My dearest wish for the IMF is not to see it bested in a negotiation (although we will have to try, as one of many things we will have to do) but to see it wound up, within 5 years latest.

Captain Con O'Sullivan

25-02-2011, 09:14 AM

We're going to have to look at a macro thread on the IMF and World Bank at some point as a way of pooling perceptions and any info on their methodology ... at the moment we are focused at the inverted pyramid because we are obviously more concerned as to what happens with regard to Ireland and the effect of their policies and straitjackets there but I notice one or two things at the macro level which would indicate a change in strategy at top level which is also relevant to whats happening at our national level.

Thread for another day after the 'come sweet death' for Fianna Fail/Eunuch coalition today.

PaddyJoe

11-09-2011, 02:46 PM

Story in the Sunday Indo today on the pressure that was applied by the ECB on the bailout:

European Central Bank (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/European_Central_Bank) boss Jean-Claude Trichet (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Jean-Claude_Trichet) directly "threatened" former finance minister Brian Lenihan with the immediate withdrawal of emergency liquidity funding unless he accepted the bailout last November, it has been confirmed.
In interviews conducted for The Inside story of the demise of Fianna Fail (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Fianna_Fail), published today, it has emerged that Mr Lenihan, in the days before he died, confided in a small number of colleagues how exactly Mr Trichet "bounced" Ireland (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Ireland) into the bailout.
It was on his last day ever in the Dail, when he knew he was dying, that Mr Lenihan revealed the true sequence of events to a few of his party colleagues.

It was on his last day ever in the Dail, when he knew he was dying, that Mr Lenihan revealed the true sequence of events to a few of his party colleagues.
Just nine days before the official request was made on November 28, Mr Trichet sent Mr Lenihan a letter outlining his deep unhappiness over the amount of money that the ECB was "pouring into Ireland".
"The letter landed in the department on the Friday afternoon/Friday evening. Mr Trichet was deeply unhappy about the level of funding from the ECB into Ireland. There was incredible pressure and he insisted Ireland would need to accept a bailout," Mr Lenihan's former advisor Dr Alan Ahearne said.
"Two weeks before he died, we sat for coffee, and he told me that on the Friday evening (three days) before Dermot Ahern (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Dermot_Ahern) made his infamous 'fiction' remark, the ECB contacted him directly and threatened that if he did not request a bailout, they would cut off funding immediately to Ireland," former minister of state Billy Kelleher (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Billy_Kelleher_%28politician%29) said.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lenihan-was-threatened-into-asking-for-bailout-2873146.html

C. Flower

11-09-2011, 02:50 PM

Story in the Sunday Indo today on the pressure that was applied by the ECB on the bailout:

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lenihan-was-threatened-into-asking-for-bailout-2873146.html

Well that's interesting. In theory, Ireland didn't need the bailout at that stage, having borrowed up front, and could have done a Morgan Kelly, cut like hell and avoided one.

But there was a massive outflow from the Irish banks in September.

PaddyJoe

11-09-2011, 02:58 PM

Well that's interesting. In theory, Ireland didn't need the bailout at that stage, having borrowed up front, and could have done a Morgan Kelly, cut like hell and avoided one.

But there was a massive outflow from the Irish banks in September.
Remember Morgan Kelly's IT piece in March where he claimed that Honohan cut Lenihan off at the knees. Supposedly there was six or nine months of funding left in Sept 2010 and Lenihan's strategy was to hold out until Spain and Italy ran into difficulties. That would have meant a wider European solution.
Given what's happened since maybe he was on the right track.

C. Flower

11-09-2011, 03:34 PM

Remember Morgan Kelly's IT piece in March where he claimed that Honohan cut Lenihan off at the knees. Supposedly there was six or nine months of funding left in Sept 2010 and Lenihan's strategy was to hold out until Spain and Italy ran into difficulties. That would have meant a wider European solution.
Given what's happened since maybe he was on the right track.

I know we had a thread running at the time that expressed the feeling that Ireland was being heavily pressured into accepting an IMF package.

In some respects, Lenihan did his best, and FF was not a complete servant of the EU/IMF, to the extent that FG/Lab are, but as they had bankrupted the country, their meaningful options were few.

"Why Ireland May not have Needed The Bailout" - Namawinelake. It was certainly touch and go. http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=8593