Cowen damns us all with rescue of his friends at Anglo Irish

national | worker & community struggles and protests | other press

Tuesday January 20, 2009 07:14

by Miriam

Cowen and Lenihan destroying jobs and businesses to save their friends

Morgan Kelly, Professor of Economics at UCD has delivered a scathing criticism of Cowen's decision to rescue Anglo Irish Bank - and describes how Cowen and Lenihan went against advice of the Central Bank and their own experts in the Department of Finance - fully aware of what it would do to the citizens of the state.

The reality is that Anglo has no importance in the Irish financial system. It existed purely as a vehicle for a few politically connected individuals to place reckless bets on the commercial property market. These property speculators may be of systemic importance to the finances of Fianna Fáil, but their significance ends there.

Nothing could be a clearer indication of where this government's priorities lie - Kelly says the scale of the undertaking given to Anglo Irish amounts to 20K euro per household per year.

"The proposed Anglo nationalisation marks a decisive watershed in Irish democracy. With it, an Irish government has coolly looked its citizens in the eye and said: “Sorry, but your priorities are not ours.” "

Article here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0120/1....html

As Kelly says:

"It is to be hoped that the collapse of other bank shares will serve as a warning to deter the Government from this catastrophic course. I would therefore urge any TDs and Senators who still believe that the Irish State exists to act in the interests of its people to vote against the nationalisation of Anglo Irish and do everything to protect the other banks."

People need to get in touch with their FF TDs if they have them and make them understand that they must not vote for this measure.

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Comments (5 of 5)

How the rescue of Anglo Irish will destroy the other 'good' banks

Tue Jan 20, 2009 07:22

And all for what? This is utter madness - people need to get organised today because the bill is being rushed through in a mere five hours:

http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1015719...shtml

Financiers are behind all the corruption in our Government

by Conall

Tue Jan 20, 2009 08:37

"There can be no peace without justice, and there can be no justice without a reform in our economic system, for the financiers are behind all the corruption in our Government." (From: http://www.prolognet.qc.ca/clyde/pres.htm )

The Republic of Ireland has clearly gone the way of the United States of America -- as have many other nation states of course, who have foolishly gone down that same road.

A "new birth of freedom" is required (see http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeche...g.htm ), and today, with the inauguration of a new United States President, might (hopefully) be the day it begins.

Related link: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/80413#comment243497

Union response

Tue Jan 20, 2009 09:15

[As Chomsky said, there is only one party in the US - the business party which has two more less identical factions. He could've been talking about Ireland. Obama will be the exact same all who came before him. He may be a smooter talker than Bush but he will be identical. I hope I'm proved wrong btw. ]

16th January 2009

Untold billions for banks while vital funding cut from primary schools.

The INTO said today that the government’s decision to take Anglo Irish Bank into public ownership at an unknown cost and risk had to be seen against savage budget cutbacks on primary education and threatened cuts to teachers’ pay and pensions.

The union’s general secretary John Carr said the bailout would stiffen the resolve of public sector workers to resist being scapegoated in forthcoming national partnership talks. He said it would also mean opposition to the education cutbacks would continue.

“For months, teachers and parents listened to the Minister for Education and Science defending cutbacks in education,” said Carr. He said last year schools were told by the Minister the public finances were so bad that teaching jobs had to be axed, books had to be taken from poor children and computers couldn’t be bought for schools.

“Now his government with the stroke of a pen can find billions to bail out a failed bank. Some of this bail out money is education funding that the Education Minister took out of cash-strapped primary schools,” said Carr.

According to Carr, the potential savings to government from the education cutbacks were in the region of 70 million euro. “That is less than the secret loan of more than 80 million held by one director of Anglo Irish Bank.” Mr Carr said the penny pinching of the government when it came to funding primary education stood in stark contrast to the “largesse available to the golden circle”.

He said the public will not forget the ease with which Anglo Irish Bank was bailed out with tax payers’ money compared to dogged government opposition to protests against the education cuts. “People are not fools,” he said. “They will not accept that special needs children, Travellers and children with no English will have to pay the price for bank bail outs.”

“Neither will hardworking public servants like teachers accept one law for a rich and powerful elite and another for everyone else,” said Carr. “Those on modest incomes will not accept pay cuts and attacks on their pensions to pick up the tab for banks that were little more than badly run casinos.”

ENDS.

Worse than USA.

by Pgibson

Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:01

It is almost a dead crertainty that Ireland is about to plunge back to the status of "Poor Country."

No chance of that happening to the USA.

A British newspaper said his morning that,in other countries, people would have been shot for High Treason by now.

Yet not one single arrest has been made.

If I hid my 50 euro worth TV from the license inspector the Law would drag me through the courts and I would have a criminal record.

No so for our financier friends.

"Ignorance is bliss" -- or is it?

by Ashling

Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:06

I suspect the new US President will be the same: unless he gets overwhelming support (from overwhelming numbers of people around the world) for changing the way that vast sums of money can be created "out of thin air" by the elitist clique of "Money Masters", which they -- at their COMPLETE discretion please note -- then lend to governments all around the world at crippling interest rates which the tax payers have to try and service. (See http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&fkt=2047&fsdt=8766&q...f&oq= )

Slavery has not gone away, and I find it tempting at times to think of the "Money Masters" as "Slave Masters" of sorts (among several other things).

There is also of course the matter of the Money Masters withholding funding for projects they don't like, and from politicians they don't like (in places they don't like).

The Money Masters still have us all in the palms of their hands at the present time (particularly our politicians); and, much to the delight no doubt of this massively influential and undemocratic clique, the vast majority of the world's people still do not realise it.

Consequently, the wrong people tend to get all the blame for the world's ills -- which in large part produces the false notion that a "change of government" will do the trick.

Related link: http://www.humanrightsireland.com/PresidentGeorgeWBush/...l.htm

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Cowen damns us all with rescue of his friends at Anglo Irish

Comments (5 of 5)