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Eating the Irish

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Krugman raises questions about the way in which the government of Ireland made the decision to guarante all the debts of its banks. Debts that were incurred during a wild period of reckless speculation in real estate. This speculation ocurred with huge borrowings by Irish banks, mostly from banks in the UK and Germany. One would expect that those who lent the money should have paid attention to the risks, and should now share in the losses. But this is not what happened. He points out that before the speculative boom in real estate Ireland had little public debt. This decision put taxpayers suddenly in a situation where they were responsible for huge bank losses. He says Irelan is in a worse situation than Iceland, because it cannot devalue its currency. Iceland let foreign lenders to its runaway banks pay the price of their poor lending decisions, and he quotes the IMF which says- "private sector bankruptcies have led to a marked decline in external debt."

Krugman and other experts on the decision of the government of Ireland to guarantee all the debt of its runaway banks.

08/31/2010

This decision has burdened the Irish people with the debt that banks incurred in a burst of speculative frenzy in real estate. This was possible as bankers were working together with politicians and developers. German and British banks made poor lending decisions and loaned money freely to Irish banks. Banks should share in these losses but the decision of the Irish government has put the burden on the people of Ireland, with a third year of severe austerity cuts in the face of a 14% unemployment rate. The investigation into Anglo Irish Bank.

Grouped Articles

In Ireland, Hope of Retroactive Relief

Wall Street Journal 06/29/2012

Support of Anglo Irish Bank Strains Ireland

New York Times 08/31/2010

Eating the Irish

New York Times 11/25/2010

The Road to Economic Crisis Is Paved With Euros

New York Times 01/12/2011

Europe Needs to Apportion Pain

Wall Street Journal 03/17/2011

Tests Show Irish Banks Still Ailing

New York Times 03/30/2011


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