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The Irish central bank and Ireland in general did not really regulate its own banks.
Nobody here is disputing that. Ireland was a massive case of control fraud. People should be going to prison for that. But the fact that several highly placed property developers, bankers and Fianna Fail machine politicians should be dining on prison fare for a few years does not mean that the general public has to be flagellated in order to honour obviously bogus debts.
You could make the argument that those who voted for Fianna Fail bear some measure of responsibility, since Ireland is, after all, a democracy. While I agree that on some moral level they do, as a practical matter the buck has to stop somewhere. You cannot flagellate the entire Irish economy in penance over their corrupt politicians, for the same reason that you couldn't hang every German who voted for the Nazi party, or worked in the German armaments industry during the war.
Personal responsibility is all well and good, but you have to draw a line somewhere, or your quest for personal responsibility will turn into collective punishment.
The exposure to genuine Irish banks, who ruined themselves in real estate, was always low and is after two years almost nonexistent.
Well, that would simplify matters greatly. Then the Irish government just needs to shaft some domestic Irish bondholders. Which is always less complicated than shafting foreign bondholders.
There's just the teensy-tiny problem that it isn't true.
- Jake Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.
Is is all the fault of Fianna fail now, what?
Yes, Fine Gael and Labour and the greens and the Progressive Democrats were all a bunch of communists.
The buck has to stop somewhere. Killing the Irish economy to punish the Irish for electing crooked politicians is both overkill and collective punishment.
In any case the primary losers now are the poor, old, sick and unemployed, few, if any of whom bear any responsibility for the crisis. Index of Frank's Diaries
Incidentally, why shouldn't Ireland pursue countercyclical fiscal policy? Because the current German line is that they shouldn't.
Labour wouldn't quite know how to find one way, never mind three... Index of Frank's Diaries
Here's my simplified story about the Irish economy:
I call Godwin!
I would be very careful with that call. Were one to ignore the rampant short-sighted, self-serving stupidity employed by so many in their response to the Irish debt crisis, one could construct a narrative composed of the long litany of macro-economic policies and ECB decisions that have consistently been favorable to Germany and unfavorable to the periphery that Germany is attempting to achieve by economics what they could not achieve by military force 70 years ago. That would be worthy of a Godwin call. (I in fact believe that it is a group of wealthy individuals and those who serve them in several countries that, not entirely coherently, is advancing such a goal in their somewhat collective self interest.) "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
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