Why is the US handing over Geithner's briefing notes to RTE?

[PaddyJoe]

Cant quite figure this out yet. I suppose we can assume that Kenny and Noonan were aware that this info was going to be put into the public domain.
Already on Morning Ireland there was a spin that Noonan's meeting with Geithner led to a cut in the interest rate on Ireland's loans.
Are we going to be fed a line that the US is really Ireland's best friend and will back us up against those pesky Europeans; especially if they start any guff about tax harmonisation?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0111/bailout.html
RTE Morning Ireland report here:
http://www.rte.ie/news/morningirelan...4109,flash,257

[ang]

You could well be right PJ most of the US bondies have been paid back now so we can all be "bestest buddies" again

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I would like to hear the conversation involving Geithner when Ireland was trying to renegotiate its level of debt and he vetoe'd it.

He's just a caretaker for US Federal Reserve banks. Whatever they release now is just bullshyte. Besides, Eamonn Gilmore can always trot around to the US embassy to see his mate if we have any questions in that regard.

[Holly]

Geithner appears to have been well informed about Ireland's fragile economic outlook. There is no growth in the domestic economy and no plan to fix this; no investment, no job creation, no stimulus from the government. Only exports, much of which are foreign-based multinationals, which depend on mostly British demand as well as from the USA, show growth but this is a source of vulnerability as both Britain and the USA are under economic stress. Depending on exports to generate money for the government will not guarantee jobs in the future if foreign companies decide to pull up stakes and relocate to England, Poland, and elsewhere. This happens every other month. There is no domestic engine for growth and the cutbacks in government spending is depressing the economy further. Basically, the government's plan seems to hope that some American companies will set-up shop here to counter-balance those who have left. Geithner knew that Ireland is a warmed-up corpse and in no position to argue a case for relief based on strength or prospects.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Yip. Ireland's 'exports' are highly dubious in that apart from the only real export sectors such as
agricultural and some pharma the rest is just an accounting trick- the trick being that it looks on the face of it that Ireland exports computer equipment and so on but then that doesn't count for state income because the companies involved don't 'surface' these assemblies or any related profit on such activity because they 'warehouse' such figures to surface in Bermuda and places with no corporate tax rates at all.

American corporates are not in Ireland because they feel the desperate need to contribute to the old country- Ireland is merely a part of the international sheltering system for corporate tax profiles.

[C. Flower]

Cant quite figure this out yet. I suppose we can assume that Kenny and Noonan were aware that this info was going to be put into the public domain.
Already on Morning Ireland there was a spin that Noonan's meeting with Geithner led to a cut in the interest rate on Ireland's loans.
Are we going to be fed a line that the US is really Ireland's best friend and will back us up against those pesky Europeans; especially if they start any guff about tax harmonisation?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0111/bailout.html
RTE Morning Ireland report here:
http://www.rte.ie/news/morningirelan...4109,flash,257

US possibly going to put more into the IMF, reportedly, today.

Ganley on the move.

Signs of some kind of change in approach by the US ?

[morticia]

Holly's absolutely right that he'd been well briefed.... well, Goldman Splats didn't get where they are today by being either uninformed or ignorant. Underestimate at your peril, I suppose.

The change in tack as highlighted by PJMcG is very, very interesting, I've been wondering that myself. The fact that he's well informed is interesting, the fact that we're being informed about what he was being informed about, even more so.

Since most of the bondholders have been/are being paid back, the "contagion risk" we pose to everyone is less and less, and we're small enough that 200bn in outstanding sovereign debt isn't a lot either... Italy has to roll over twice that next year.

Interestingly though, we seem to represent a pawn on the global chess board that a number of people want to control. A contact of a colleague of mine works in high level finance in Northern Europe (yes, one of those solvent countries still left standing), and seems to reckon that if the EZ splits to North and South that the north would want to keep us... why? Apparently we're considered small enough to bail comfortably and we are providing everyone else with a "good example" of how to proceed (even though it is widely acknowledged that the strategy may not be working economically). Politics trumps economics, it seems.

My own somewhat more cynical take on this is that we're the fighting ground in the tax wars between Northern Europe (led by Germany) on the one hand, and the UK and US on the other. Tug of war, we're the rope.

And then there's the windfarm/fracking/agri potential, plus the fact that big US business probably wants to keep us just where we are in the global tax scene, and is prepared to lobby Washington handsomely to ensure that this is just what happens.

Any thoughts?

[riposte]

A contact of a colleague of mine works in high level finance in Northern Europe (yes, one of those solvent countries still left standing), and seems to reckon that if the EZ splits to North and South that the north would want to keep us... why? Apparently we're considered small enough to bail comfortably and we are providing everyone else with a "good example" of how to proceed (even though it is widely acknowledged that the strategy may not be working economically). Politics trumps economics, it seems.

My own somewhat more cynical take on this is that we're the fighting ground in the tax wars between Northern Europe (led by Germany) on the one hand, and the UK and US on the other. Tug of war, we're the rope.

And then there's the windfarm/fracking/agri potential, plus the fact that big US business probably wants to keep us just where we are in the global tax scene, and is prepared to lobby Washington handsomely to ensure that this is just what happens.

Any thoughts?

Just when I had abandoned faith in the tooth fairy ..... two come along.

[PaddyJoe]

The briefing documents are on the RTE website now at this link:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0111/bailout.html

[C. Flower]

The briefing documents are on the RTE website now at this link:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0111/bailout.html

Thanks. Redacted quite heavily I see.

[concernedparent]

Just when I had abandoned faith in the tooth fairy ..... two come along.

We are a gateway for the US into Europe and vice versa.

The Americans, quite rightly in my opinion, know that we have no politicians of any backbone and have no qualms about calling the shots.

The American dream is not an aspiration for a fair and just society, but a dream to make more money for the wealthy, and American policy is to safeguard America and its so called wealth and its access to the necessary assets to accumulate that wealth. ie oil.

Its about time that the Irish populace disabused itself of the idea that America has a soft spot for Ireland and the Irish.

They don't. St. Patrick's day is a sop to the Irish American vote. And our tax regime maximises profits and negates the need for the incumbent Irish government to create sustainable jobs, that are not going to be lost to the next developing country that is quite happy to work for poor wages.

[Newsy]

So he is worried about our economy!!!! He wasn't very worried about our economy when he vetoed us burning those bondholders.

So, what is in it for our 'friends' in the States??? Because it is the bottom line.

[Dr. FIVE]

FOI according to Gav Reilly

[PaddyJoe]

FOI according to Gav Reilly

I wonder why RTE went looking for this? Were they put up to it? I wonder how long they have it and why it was released today?
How come nobody got around to asking Noonan or Kenny about it today?

[barrym]

Its old news, and anyway, why the query? RTE is a mouthpiece of the gov., whatever one is in power, amply illustrated over the years.

FOI? yes, especially when you are 'invited' to apply for an FOI for something, a regular occurance, I'm informed. Never underestimate the cute hoorism