Posted on 02/15/2009 5:39:41 PM PST by PotatoHeadMick
FEARS are mounting that Ireland could default on its soaring national debt pile, amid continuing worries about its troubled banking sector.
The cost of buying insurance against Irish government bonds rose to record highs on Friday, having almost tripled in a week. Debt-market investors now rank Ireland as the most troubled economy in Europe.
Simon Johnson, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, called for this weekend’s meeting of G7 finance ministers to put Ireland’s troubles at the top of the agenda.
Johnson said: “Don’t, please, tell me more about the basic principles of financial reform unless and until you have addressed the Irish problem. And don’t tell me the Irish have to sort this out for themselves. Eventually, the world always comes to help; check your notes on Iceland.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
What the hell happened?
I think they went on the Euro.....
The bigger question is when do the Markets start refusing US borrowing? Or, at what interest rate will they accept them?
IMO we are headed for a day of reckoning. Higher interest rates, Global Inflation and skyrocketing Gold.
Sadly, reading the comments indicates that the whole world is in panic mode, including the US.
Is this country going to sell treasuries to pay for the stimulus charade?We may find the answers to your questions pretty quickly.
In either case, it might be a cheap place to vacation this summer....
Oh...great. Now that the UNSINKABLE Titantic is sinking, the ship S.S.Californian has a fire on board, Arnold needs one more vote and the ship Mt. Temple, Ireland won’t be able to help. NO LIFE rafts are available, and the dogs in the kennel have been opened, no reason for them to die locked up in a cage when the ship goes down. Captain Obama wants to bring more WATER into the hull.
The unfolding debt drama in Russia, Ukraine, and the EU states of Eastern Europe has reached acute danger point.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard If mishandled by the world policy establishment, this debacle is big enough to shatter the fragile banking systems of Western Europe and set off round two of our financial Götterdämmerung.
Austria's finance minister Josef Pröll made frantic efforts last week to put together a €150bn rescue for the ex-Soviet bloc. Well he might. His banks have lent €230bn to the region, equal to 70pc of Austria's GDP.
"A failure rate of 10pc would lead to the collapse of the Austrian financial sector," reported Der Standard in Vienna. Unfortunately, that is about to happen.
[snip]
I thought Ireland was a pillar of prosperity. Did Democrats win a couple of elections there, too?
Tim Geithner must nationalise some of America's biggest banks and take the total toll of the US bail-out to around $2 trillion, according to one of the world's most prominent economists.
By James Quinn Wall Street Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:12AM GMT 16 Feb 2009
Nouriel Roubini – the man feted with having foreseen the financial crisis before almost any of his peers – has warned that the US Treasury Secretary must go significantly further than his detail-light bail-out plan delivered last week, and argues that the Obama administration should move swiftly to take public ownership of those major US banks which are failing.
Professor Roubini, who worked with Mr Geithner in the Clinton administration, told The Daily Telegraph: "Many US banks are insolvent, even the major ones." While nationalisation is "a politically- charged decision" which needs to handled carefully, he said it needs to take place "sooner rather than later" for the sake of the wider economy.
Professor Roubini calculated that, on top of the existing $700bn (£491bn) of American taxpayers' money allocated to solving the banking crisis, Mr Geithner may need to ask the US Congress for between $1,000bn and $1,250bn in extra funds. "Sooner rather than later, they'll need more money," he added.
[snip]
As in the US the Irish banks went on a crazy binge of lending to property developers and like all bubbles the Irish property bubble burst, rather spectacularly.
It’s actually worse than that though, there is an unmistakable stench of corruption reeking out of the near collapse of one of the banks, Anglo-Irish, where a golden circle of prominent businessmen and the directors of the bank were lending and re-lending each other sweetheart loans, the horrific scale of which is only now becoming clear (a wee bit too complex to go into in detail).
There is no actual hard evidence of criminality, yet, but the whole thing stinks to high heavens and the Irish people are in a state of shock at the cataclysm that has hit them.
Bernie is jealous I'll bet.
Check it out come Tuesday morning when the markets got wind of this trillion dollar ‘bonus’ the government just gave itself.
I would not be surprised if we crashed on Tuesday.
And here will Sharia Financing come!
Duntduntaduuuuunnhhhh
Here I come to save the day!!
No problem, I’ll loan you some money, but just don’t loan any money for pork or porn!
Need some cash? Sharia Financing offers NO INTEREST! Yes, NO INTEREST! Fees are standard.
“I thought Ireland was a pillar of prosperity. Did Democrats win a couple of elections there, too?”
Yeah, me too. I thought Ireland was in fairly decent shape? They have the lowest corporate tax rate and a well educated work force.
My company is soon to open a new manufacturing facility there because of the economic advantages.
Poop!
Apparently, those of us that thought that, were wrong.
The rest of the world is OPEN tomorrow. I think we will be missing some opportunities to get into gold while the rest of the world scrambles. Gotta celebrate them presidents so the postal workers can practice animation.
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