[PotatoHeadMick]

Sadly the once roaring Celtic Tiger is looking a bit moth eaten these days.

[Army Air Corps]

What the hell happened?

[TCats]

They (Irish) have run out of options. Unlike the US, they cannot fund their obligations in the Markets.

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.

[richardtavor]

Sadly, reading the comments indicates that the whole world is in panic mode, including the US.

[2banana]

They need to start selling hard assets like gold reserves or go bankrupt.

In either case, it might be a cheap place to vacation this summer....

[rovenstinez]

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.

[blam]

Failure To Save East Europe Will Lead To Worldwide Meltdown

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]

[Past Your Eyes]

I thought Ireland was a pillar of prosperity. Did Democrats win a couple of elections there, too?

[UCFRoadWarrior]

If Ireland defaults....the outhouse bottom will realy hit the fan

Ireland had a growing economy....and they are now in trouble.

Get ready for the new Great Depression, its coming

[marshmallow]

No big deal.

Argentina defaulted in 2001. Life goes on.

[HangnJudge]

Ukraine has headed a list of countries, which, according to United Nations economists, could run the risk of default in 2009. The UN experts drew the conclusion in their report entitled "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009".

According to them, the situation is really difficult in Ukraine. The country dramatically loses the confidence of its investors. Ukraine has become No country in terms of its industrial production decline, inflation growth, devaluated national currency and a stock index fall. The experts predict that Ukraine's economic growth will slow down to 2.1% this year, unemployment rate will double, while inflation will remain unchanged at the level of 2008

Fears are growing that Ireland could default on its national debt after the cost to insure against possible losses on loans to the country rose to record highs at the end of last week.

Credit ratings agency Moody's recently followed rival Standard & Poor's in warning it might downgrade Irish debt, amid fears that one of Europe's former success stories is falling into a deepening recession. The cost to hedge against losses on Irish debt tripled last week to a record 355 basis points - meaning that for every £100 of debt, investors have to pay £3.55 to insure against default, according to data firm CMA Datavision. It was about 262 basis points at the end of January.

Moody's has warned there is a more than 50% chance Ireland will lose its triple A rating within 12 to 18 months.

The spread between Irish and German debt rose last week to 203 points, meaning Ireland has to pay 2% more interest than Germany to borrow in the financial markets because of its perceived higher risk.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/ireland-debt-recession

Meanwhile, Icelandic interest rates have been catapulted to 15.5 per cent, peaks not seen in Britain since Black Wednesday, in an attempt to rein in inflation. The krona's freefall on the international currency markets is surpassed only by the catastrophic failure of Zimbabwean currency. One of the country's three banks, Glitnir, has been nationalised; another wants money from its customers. Foreign currency is running out as international banks refuse pleas to lend money.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3147866/Financial-crisis-Icelands-dreams-go-up-in-smoke.html