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The Crisis Legislation on the Promissory Notes
Promissory Notes to Government Bonds
The recent bonds-for-notes overnight legislation Austerity is a sham. Debt is economics for the ‘little people’. If the people produce the wealth then why are they always poor and/or paying back debts? Because the national and international wealthy lend us back the money (with interest) they have taken out of society in the form of profits to fill in the gap they created in the first place. Thus we are triply exploited: We are taxed on wages, alienated from wealth created (profits) and we pay interest on the money borrowed from the wealthy to pay for the capital and current expenditure needed for the maintenance of society.
When there is an economic crisis caused by this constant draining of the wealth from the economy, the ‘experts’ then debate the best way to impose cutbacks to get us back on to ‘the road to recovery’. This would be funny if so many people were not caught up in the sea of unemployment and subsistence living. Furthermore, any rejection of these ‘debts’ will not be countenanced by the elites who oversee the ‘debt repayments’ by the ‘little people’.
If one form of debt repayment (promissory notes) is seen to be dodgy and possibly unsustainable (due to legalities or public repugnance) then legislation is rushed in overnight to convert the ‘debt’ in to a more acceptable form – the government bond. That was the situation this week in Dublin. How did this come about?
“In 2010 the banks that were then Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide (now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation or IBRC) required around €30.06 billion in additional cash from the State because of their perilous state in the aftermath of the collapse of the property market.
Finance minister Brian Lenihan wrote a promissory note to the IBRC – basically saying “We owe you €31 billion” – which the bank used as collateral to borrow from the Cental Bank of Ireland’s emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) fund. Under the agreement, the State agreed to pay €3.06 billion every year to the IBRC until 2023 and smaller payments after that to satisfy the principal and the interest.
But creating cash or monetary financing is a no-no as far as the European Central Bank (ECB) is concerned. Its founding principles – the Maastricht Treaty – dictate that EU member states cannot finance their public deficits by printing money.
As Stephen Donnelly, who has been vehemently opposed to the promissory notes, points out: “[It] would certainly have run afoul of Europe’s two directives: That no European bank would fail and that the potential losses and lost profits of senior investors would be paid in full by the public.”
One of the options put on the table by Ireland has been to swap the notes for a long-term government bond – possibly sourced from the ESM – with the repayments spread over 40 years. What’s all this about? Well our dear Taoiseach Enda Kenny probably describes it best when he recently said it would be like switching “from a serious overdraft to a long-term, low-interest mortgage”.” [1]
You see, the appalling vista for the ECB would be the loss of control over the supply of money and the knock-on effect this would have on the markets if every government in the EU were to do the same. Therefore, bonds-for-notes legislation was brought in overnight in Dublin to wind up the IBRC and put the repayments on a more stable, ‘normalised’ footing. The Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil:
“The first principal payment on these bonds will be made in 25 years time, 2038, with the final payment being made in 2053. The average maturity of these bonds will be over 34 years rather than the 7 – 8 years on a promissory note.” [2]
It was also noted that "the average interest rate on these bonds will be 3 per cent, compared to 8 per cent on the promissory notes.” [2]
Sure the children and the grandchildren of the ‘little people’ can pay the ‘debt’ instead! This was confirmed by the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan who said that the deal on bank debt secured by the Government "eases the burden on everybody" (except their unsuspecting children). [3]
The Anglo: Not Our Debt campaign spokesperson, Andy Storey, described the debt as “illegitimate – it was accrued to pay off the speculators who gambled their money on a dodgy bank now under criminal investigation, it is not the debt of ordinary people and should under no circumstances be reclassified as ‘sovereign’”. He also stated that rushing “emergency legislation through the Dáil and Seanad this evening on this basis, this would be “devious and undemocratic – instead of having a proper, informed debate about this hugely serious issue the government would be railroading through legislation that would see people living in Ireland take formal responsibility for debts that are not theirs to pay”.” [4]
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Eurostat, the EU Commission’s data agency, has calculated the cost of the banking crisis in each EU country and according to Michael Taft, Ireland just edges “out Germany for the dubious title of spending the most on the banking crisis. €41 billion to date according to the Eurostat accounting data (this doesn’t count the billions ploughed into the covered banks from our National Pension Reserve Fund as this was not counted as a ‘cost’ to the General Government budget). […]The European banking crisis to date has cost every individual in Ireland nearly €9,000 each. The average throughout the EU is €192 per capita. […] The Irish people have paid 42 percent of the total cost of the European banking crisis.” [5]
It’s no wonder Angela Merkel declared that Ireland was a "special case" for a bank debt deal. To revise Churchill’s famous words – ‘Never was so much owed by so few to so many’.
[1] http://www.thejournal.ie/anglo-promissory-notes-ecb-775...2013/
[2] http://www.thejournal.ie/ibrc-liquidated-promissory-not...2013/
[3] http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0208/....html
[4] http://www.notourdebt.ie/dont-force-illigitimate-debts-...tions
[5] http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/banking-crisis-bill-ire...2013/
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Jump To Comment: 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1'The Head of the International Monetary Fund has congratulated Finance Minister Michael Noonan and the Government on the success of Ireland's efforts to meet its IMF programme.'
'Christine Lagarde said that Ireland is setting standards and that what has been done ''has been huge by any standards''.'
The two excerpts above have been copied from yet another piece of extremely criminal deception (as I see it) marketed by RTE using their Friday March 8th 2013 Article at: http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0308/375024-christine-lagar...blin/
The criminal deception of "the people" by the Banksters, and their bought-and-paid-for Republic of Ireland Government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) gofer accomplices, and RTE, is the only thing that I see as being "huge by any standards". And it is HUGE.
Related Link:
NO to Government of the Banksters, by the Banksters, for the Banksters, Human Rights Ireland ...
http://tinyurl.com/aqd5tkx
"Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton has said a deal on postponing the European part of Ireland's bailout loans would be a boost for the taxpayer."
The above excerpt is from a Tuesday, 05 March 2013 RTE Article at:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0305/372760-bailout/
Personally, I would argue that the levels of deceit and imbalance connected with the above-mentioned RTE Article are criminal.
"Today, public money is in the private hands of the illuminati ruling families who own all of the world's leading banks including the privatized central banks. How did they do it? It started with the very first banks. In the beginning, banks were a safe place for people to store their gold. When the bankers discovered that people left most of their gold in the bank for safe keeping, they started lending out the gold that didn't belong to them and charging interest on it. Soon, Kings and royalty were borrowing gold from the bankers to finance their wars. Since wars were extremely good for business, the bankers started stirring up conflicts that led to more wars...then they lent out money to both sides of the wars and collected interest at loan shark rates." (From: http://www.helpfreetheearth.com/articles_2.html )
Related Link:
Banksters, The men who stole the world, Government of the Banksters, by the Banksters, for the Banksters, Chief Justice Susan Denham ...
http://tinyurl.com/ba85fwm
Isn't it funny that Obama is saying the exact opposite to the Troika regarding Austerity cuts on the other side of the Atlantic?
I guess "a series of dumb cuts on things that businesses depend on and workers depend on" ( austerity ) are only for the likes of us.
Different rules for the people who actually run the IMF and world bank. I guess that they are under no illusions that austerity actually works.
"The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has said he is confident Ireland will make a full return to the markets before the end of the year."
"Earlier, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told delegates that the experience of Ireland and the lessons learned were relevant to the wider European experience."
"Mr Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore held two hours of talks in Dublin today with Mr Barroso and European Parliament President Martin Schulz."
"He (José Manuel Barroso) said the Commission was backing proposals to alter the maturities and interest rates on loans that the EU has made to Ireland as part of the €67bn bailout programme funded by the EU, ECB and IMF."
All four of the above excerpts are from a recent RTE Article at:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0228/370037-ibec-conference...blin/
Related Link:
"Aiding and abetting, government crime, RTE, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/aapd3ux
The full text and list of signatories of the Prerogative Writ of Mandamus posted on February 11th 2013 can be viewed at:
http://info.fmotl.com/CameronOsborneLetter.htm
A few excerpts are provided in the section just below from the text at the above www page address, which -- in part -- contains a moderately detailed explanation of what a "Writ of Mandamus" is:
=== === ===
"A Writ of Mandamus is issued from a court of superior jurisdiction that commands an inferior tribunal, corporation, Municipal Corporation, or individual to perform, or refrain from performing, a particular act, the performance or omission of which is required by law as an obligation."
"Led by the world's elite banking families, this unlawful cabal operates through a shadowy network of high level and secretive 'think tanks' (including the Bilderberg Group which you are both very familiar with) as well as quasi international conferences where unashamed globalist agenda are displayed in such a way by a compliant mainstream media as to gain public acceptance by hiding the real truth."
"The crippling debt burden that is currently shaping the fiscal policies and strategies of our nation has been arrived at by unlawful means. The so-called 'Deficit' and 'National Debt', which are causing increasing misery for law abiding families and businesses, not to mention putting at risk our nation's defences, only exist as a direct result of allowing the private banks to be involved in our nation's money supply."
"As a lawful demand, and in recognition of Article 61 of Magna Carta 1215, we, the undersigned, will now allow you a period of forty days from the date of this letter to make the necessary arrangements within Her Majesty's Treasury in order to create a new sovereign, debt-free money supply based on the wealth, integrity and potential of our nation to meet the future security, well-being and happiness of the British people."
"Iceland has already stood up to the bankers - now it is our turn! "
=== === ===
Related Link:
Article 6.1, Bunreacht na hEireann, Banksters, Human Rights Ireland ...
http://tinyurl.com/ajjdnof
"There is little point in appealing to politicians, for they are owned and controlled by them (the Banksters that is). Politicians are the devil's handmaidens, the despicable bought-and-paid-for gofers of those who are really in charge."
The above excerpt is from an e-mail sent yesterday to (among others) President of the Republic of Ireland Dr Michael D. Higgins, who is the Principal Guardian of Bunreacht na hEireann: the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland, and as such the SUPREME LAW of the Republic of Ireland.
The Government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) of the Republic of Ireland needs to be gently but firmly, peacefully and lawfully, brought back under the control of "the people" of the Republic of Ireland?
There is no other sensible or workable legal alternative?
Fortunately, Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann very clearly and straightforwardly provides "the people" of the Republic of Ireland with the legal authority to take back control.
Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann reads as follows (in full):
"All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good."
Failure by "the people" of the Republic of Ireland to put our Article 6.1 "to work" means "THE BANKSTERS TAKE ALL"?
We, "the people" of the Republic of Ireland are not alone in considering such action to prevent the Banksters from "taking all". Note, for example, the following public statement issued recently by the British Constitution Group:
"An historic Prerogative Writ of Mandamus has been served on the Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, the Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP."
For more information relative to the initiative outlined in the paragraph just above -- on behalf of "the people" of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -- please click on the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/b87h8w8
The full text of yesterday's e-mail to President Michael D. Higgins -- titled "I believe I am dealing with exceptionally dangerous people" -- which was also copied (using the same e-mail) to East Galway Government Minister Ciaran Cannon TD, to all three of his East Galway TD colleagues, and to Republic of Ireland Chief Police Commissioner Martin Callinan, can be viewed at:
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/CelticParty/26Februar...l.htm
Also worth mentioning here perhaps is that the opening paragraph of yesterday's e-mail to President Higgins (referred to above) was as follows:
"The growing criminal activities of the Banksters represents a global scandal (and threat) of gigantic proportions, almost certainly (in my opinion) the biggest and most dangerous humanity as a whole has ever experienced up to now; and, the whole 'mountain' of global corruption, crime, cover-ups, and impunity directly connected with the 'Bankster Leaders', and their government accomplices, now desperately needs to be thoroughly investigated, and robustly challenged: as an exceptionally serious international, global problem."
Related Link:
Banksters, Corruption, Crime, Cover-ups, Impunity, Human Rights Ireland ...
http://tinyurl.com/aa3ahfq
Please view the text in the section below to see how some people in Britain are dealing with their "Government Puppets of the Banksters", which I received from a UK contact this morning: and which is partly, I think, in response to the message-test of the e-mail to the British Monarchy at:
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/BritishMonarchy/22Feb...l.htm
To save people looking, I know from investigations into a different matter some years ago that "Mandamus" has been used successfully in the Republic of Ireland.
As far as I can remember, it's a very strong legal term which literally means "We Command" (from the Latin). For more, please see at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandamus
It might work very well with our own Bankster/Government Problem here in the Republic of Ireland -- "Horse & Carriage" style -- i.e. with Article 6.1 of the Constitution in the Republic of Ireland (Bunreacht na hEireann)?
"Mandamus & Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann"?
It might be worth giving some very serious thought to?
===========================
An historic Prerogative Writ of Mandamus has been served on the Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, the Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP.
We demand that the British Government issues through HM Treasury debt-free and interest-free money
……..as it did in 1914!
Overview of our country's current 'debt' situation:
Now, if there is one thing that unites the ordinary decent people of our country, it is the mutual loathing that we all now have for the private bankers and their political puppets sitting in Westminster. The former openly commit fraud and then pay themselves huge bonuses whilst the latter pass legislation to destroy the sovereignty of our nation and then believe they are entitled to a thirty per cent pay increase. And whilst all this is going on, a gigantic lie that affects all of us is being allowed to continue unchallenged!
We are told, almost on a daily basis, by a compliant and largely controlled corporate media that the world is drowning in a sea of debt. They tell us that the Eurozone is on the edge and we can certainly see that countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece are in social meltdown as their spineless and corrupt politicians meekly surrender the people's sovereignty, potential and wealth to the bankers and their corporate cohorts. We are told that the National Debt in the USA is now well over $15 trillion and is virtually unsustainable, whilst here in the UK it is now over £1 trillion.
As our debts mount up, Cameron and Clegg, with that other puppet Milliband, repeatedly tell us that severe austerity measures cannot be avoided as our country borrows £100 billion a year from the bankers in the City of London. "The Deficit must be tackled", they all parrot together. These loans, they believe, must be honoured even if it means distressing our armed forces to the point that they can no longer guarantee the defence of our nation. The bankers must be repaid, they tell us, even if it means cutting back on essential services for our pensioners, our children and the other vulnerable sections in our society. The 'City' must be allowed to prevail, they argue, even if it means selling off our key infrastructure and industries to overseas buyers. To put it very bluntly, our country is being systematically pillaged of its wealth, security and sovereignty just to keep the money markets happy and the obscene City bonuses coming in.
The Solution:
But hold on a moment! Let's just analyse what is actually going on here. Let's ask some really pertinent questions that the bankers and politicians will run a mile from answering. Let's see where the truth really lies! For starters, let's ask this common sense question that gets bankers, economists and their compliant politicians running for cover:
Why can’t the British government through its Treasury issue debt free and interest free money based upon the common wealth, potential and integrity of this country - worth trillions - why do our politicians go straight to the private bankers who simply create money completely out of thin air….just figures on a computer screen….and when this ‘money’, or more accurately this ‘nothingness’, is received by our government, we, as taxpayers, start paying the exorbitant interest which is currently costing the British people in real money at least £125,000,000 a day, or more than £44,000,000,000 a year?
The truth is that all of this debt has been arrived at unlawfully by the use of stealth and deception on the part of the corporate elite based in the City of London, led by the leading dynastic banking families. Over the last 300 years or more, they have created for themselves a worldwide network of Central Banks including the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve. These banks are responsible for issuing the money supply of their respective countries with debt-based money using 'fractional reserve lending'. "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws", was the proud boast of Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
To achieve this control over the world's money supply, the political process of the world has gradually been hijacked by the private debt-creating bankers and the corporate elite. Above our elected representatives, we have a network of secretive so-called 'think tanks' (such as the Bilderberg Group) where powerful and influential people meet behind closed doors to discuss in private the global economy and the political direction of the world. This is FACT, not some crackpot conspiracy theory. Their ultimate aim is to seek global governance on their corporate terms by gradually breaking down the sovereignty of individual nations in favour of a new supremacy of big business and private banking (the European Union superstate being an important player in this strategy). This corporate takeover can only be achieved if compliant and treasonous politicians continue playing the game of agreeing to allow their countries to be sucked even further into debt servitude to these unaccountable corporate bodies.
One such body is the Bank for International Settlements based in Basel in Switzerland. This little known, secretive and unaccountable organisation effectively controls the money supply of the world - it is the Central Bank for the Central Banks. Along with the City of London, this is the power base that drives and steers the agenda of the corporate globalists. Please take the time and read these three comprehensive articles that will clarify the enormous criminality being practiced against all of us.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/who-control...-does
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopo...4.htm
http://anticorruptionsociety.com/international/the-city...uest/
This appalling scam (of creating debt-based money out of thin air and then charging interest on it) is becoming increasingly known as people start to wake up to the truth about our so-called economic woes. In some cases, people have actually come together to lobby for what they see as sound monetary reform, but unfortunately these well meaning people are too locked into the economic system to see the real solution that is needed. One such is 'Positive Money' where the key activists, whilst recognising that the absurdity of banks creating debt-based money out of thin air must end, believe that the Bank of England, the City of London and the Bank for International Settlements are largely benign institutions that can be trusted. Those of us, who have researched and have actually come into contact with the much bigger picture, realise that they have a lot of catching up to do!
Put very simply, today's human race has very largely been put on a corporate treadmill of mass mindless production set up to meet the false corporate-inspired 'needs' of mass mindless consumerism. And if that wasn't enough, we have corporate-led sport and corporate-led media and entertainment to help keep the over-whelming majority distracted from ever finding out the truth about the present human condition. Enough is enough - this corporate-led Orwellian attack upon humanity can come to an end by the taking of one simple action.......and it is up to all of us now to stand up and to demand that our political servants take that action!
As happened at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, we demand that the British Government immediately starts issuing debt-free and interest-free money through Her Majesty's Treasury. Based on the wealth, integrity and potential of our country, such an initiative would meet the security, needs and happiness of the British people whilst setting in motion the complete removal of the power that bankers have over humanity. It is game up for the banking elite! Please read this article here which proves historically that such an act is both feasible and lawful. http://www.thebcgroup.org.uk/article/bankers-bradburys-...front.
What follows next is a Prerogative Writ of Mandamus sent to David Cameron and George Osborne on February 11th (with copies sent to Nick Clegg and Edward Milliband) which demands that the Treasury begins to issue its own debt-free and interest-free money to meet the security, well-being and happiness of the British people:
Prerogative Writ of Mandamus
A Writ of Mandamus is issued from a court of superior jurisdiction that commands an inferior tribunal, corporation, Municipal Corporation, or individual to perform, or refrain from performing, a particular act, the performance or omission of which is required by law as an obligation.
It is a Writ that orders a public agency or governmental body to perform an act required by law when it has neglected or refused to do so.
WE, THE PEOPLE, have constituted the Highest Court in the Land since the year Twelve Hundred and Fifteen (1215), and this can be seen by virtue of the fact that we have judged those whom we choose to be our Public Servants, for many centuries, via the Electoral Process. If it is our Prerogative to determine our Public Servants, then it must be our Prerogative to tell them how we Wish to be governed.
This Writ of Mandamus is thus the Wish of Us, the Sovereigns who constitute the Peaceful Inhabitants of the land-masses known as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As such, WE, THE AUTHORS of this Writ, are therefore the AUTHOR(WR)ITIES in this matter.
This Writ is, therefore, a Command that our Elected Servants take the necessary actions (which they have hitherto neglected to take), to restore the happiness and prosperity of those collective Nations listed above, by immediately implementing Schedules to the requirements defined in the attached letter to the Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP, Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, and the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Signed and sealed, for and on behalf of, those SOVEREIGNS in the attached list by
Veronica: Chapman
===========================
Related Link:
The British Constitution Group, Banksters, Mandamus ...
http://tinyurl.com/a3ja3om
Lefty, your succinct description of the situation is brilliantly precise and frighteningly true.
Globally, we are on the verge of economic, political and, ultimately, ecological collapse. The human species and it's systems are on the verge of destroying the planet. The juggernaut is about the hit the wall!!!
T
the interest rates on the promissary note was higher (~5%) but it was all paid to anglo bank, which we owned, so most of it didn't actually go out of the state. In practice most of this interest was effectively paid back to the state.
the effective interest rate for the taxpayer ended up of the order of 1%
However now that we have made it a sovereign debt, the bonds are unlikely to be held by the central bank and can be bought by private investors in which case all the interest will be going out of the state to private investors, so even though the rate is lower (~3.5%) it will be 3 times higher in practice than what we were paying on the promissary note.
Also, we will be paying out ~34 billion over 40 years. We will be paying 20 billion extra in interest according to Stephen Donnelly
That means we will be paying out 55 billion on a debt of 35 billion, which was never ours in the first place.
I'm sure close financial friends of FG ministers will be greedily buying up these "sure thing" bond investments at a guaranteed 3.5% at the expense of Irish citizens in these days of low returns (and even negative returns) on capital investment
In a nutshell, we've been fucked over again By Michael "bilderberg" Noonan and friends.
Next stop water charges, selling off our forests, acting as a huge proxy windfarm for the UK, and fracking up the wazoo.
It was great to be part of mass marches of workers nationwide including the Union of Garda seargants I enjoyed the Poetry and excellent music. It made a pleasant change from the usual long winded speeches that switch people off. I also congratulate David Beggs in standing up to SWP and SP and telling them in no uncertain terms that he will never allow the campaign to be taken over and destroyed by the Trots. Why don't the trots organise their own march of a couple of hundred people which everyone ignores as they have plenty experience of doing over the last 5 years.
The truth is that we are at war. It’s a well disguised offensive seeking to conquer. A war that seeks to be victorious over the willing.
Weapons in this war are the tools of contract, of promise and of fear. Covert are the promises that with a new rule peace will prevail. The question is for whom! Ireland fought to be sovereign. With our monetary pride we sought to conquer and invited others to partake of our dream. They did, investors from Germany, closer and farther, jumped with us to a promise of excess. Ireland was not the originators of this squalid fiscal hope but was quick to join. The result was collapse, and as history lays testament, collapse leads to war.
Cowering in the trenches waiting for more. Hoping that this more will bring reprieve and peace. Negotiations are ongoing and praise is levied from both sides on both sides, however, we remain cold and hungry in the trenches. The onslaught has slowed, the feared massive and speedy offensive is belayed. Our leaders victorious in small measure again, perhaps they should never have declared this war with their conceited promises and empty claims. We are defenseless against the might of Troika, the EMF, the ECB. We are with terrified eyes peeping at times above the trenches only human, no match for money and no match for the slow offensive of the war machine. We peep rarely and only to highlight that we are here, waiting weakened with protest pretended but never sustained. Each time the concessions with awards are given to our leaders, their claims we believe and stop shouting, we stop screaming to only preserve the little energy that we give to the hope of this war ending. They chip at us now more slowly, the lengthening pain of us being allowed once more to sit at the bottom of this foul drain, a reprieve celebrated by those sitting on hallowed ground. Immunity from the suffering of the unwilling and blindly accepting, the troops, is the wont of teachers that rule, though teaching no more, if ever.
One final ditch attempt, we may rise from the trench foot inducing poverty and scream that we will not allow the laying of our alms to the war machine. The true reprieve that we demand is the jailing of those guilty, the freeing of those innocent and chastising of those between. More than this we demand that the foundations be returned, that the war machine be allowed to collapse.
Only after the fire can the Phoenix rise.
100,000 + Turned up to these austerity protests.It is evident the voice of the people is being ignored ,the austerity march is the proof of the pudding. leglislation is being forced through without any input from the public.
http://vimeo.com/58711943#
http://www.ictu.ie/jobsnotdebt/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igdHa...ature=youtu.be
So it appears the essence of the deal done the other night which is getting an all round positive response from the mainstream press is that it saves us money and gets us back on track and austerity is sort of on hold. The reaction of the markets by lowering the borrowing rates for Ireland are been seen as justification and confirmation of the soundness of the deal.
So prior to the deal the government were planning to pay off in excess of €3+ billion per year at quite a high interest rate in the region of 8% depending on conditions. This has been swapped around now so that we pay interest only until quite far into the future, 2038 no less at a lower interest rate of we are told around 1%. And after 2038 we start paying the principle off €28 billion used to bailout Anglo Irish Banks -the builders and developers bank.
So why and how did this come about? If people remember back to one of the articles written by the economist Morgan Kelly who exposed the true depth of our financial problems quite early on, he clearly stated that if we had to pay interest of 5% or more it would sink us completely. Well it seems he was right and just the few short years of doing that has demonstrated that clearly.
I would therefore speculate that there was some recognition of this behind the scenes and an agreement has been made to stretch everything out in the hope that things get better at some point. The question is why has this been accepted? One can only speculate it is because it is to give example to others. Namely Ireland has played the good boy (-aka Enda's picture on Time Magazine's cover awhile back) and done everything asked of it. Now clearly the entire system is screwed anyhow but by promising to basically go on interest only and pay back "a little later", it keeps in place the facade of normalcy and the illusion that the future will get bright again. It precludes the notion of default or any idea that we won't pay and that is an idea that can't enter the debate under any circumstance. What is important is keeping up appearances at the European and global level that all is well and keeping this faith.
On the actual financials apparently what has been done in the deal is the same amount which includes interest will be paid back. So if we take the amount that would be paid back in a relatively short time plus the higher interest rate, this has been turned into the equivalent of paying back at a long term rate but at a lower interest such that the totals are the same. Additionally effect of inflation will effectively reduce the amount of principle. Rather like if in the space of 10 years, your wages doubled and if your mortgage was originally 4 times your salary it then is just twice your salary. Likewise this is the hope with regards the GNP. But why would the ECB or anyone else be willing to wait longer? It can only be because of the threat of bubble (of normalcy) bursting if we were pushed too far and Ireland after all is just a very small part of a much larger pie.
So how realistic is 2038? That is 25 years away and as far forward as is 1988 in back. A lot can happen in 25 years. The usual perspective on this is we will resume that upward trajectory of growth and progress. But this is not the case because we have hit resource limits of all kinds and we have already peaked with global oil production and this is set to decline. Economic growth of the last 150 years or so has been strongly correlated with the availability of cheap and abundant energy supplied in the main by coal and then oil and gas and this has largely stagnated in the past few years and the early stages of decline are present. At the same time more and more countries are slipping into a quagmire of debt that they are unable to escape from and the creation of debt is no longer producing economic growth like it did in earlier decades. It ought to be pointed out that there are very serious issues with the ability of pensions to be paid out in this future time period because the underlying assumptions of these funds require annual growths of the funds to be around 8% and this ain't going to happen although that's a separate issue.
On a superficial level then from Ireland's perspective this looks good because by then there may be so much upheaval the debt will be forgotten about except that this private debt which was wrongly made sovereign debt is not our debt. We should not be paying it back. Also if things don't work out as suggested then this means the return to the easy days are not assured and other crisis are already baked into the environmental-economic global situation. For example the global economy could easily face an compressive deflationary period and then later followed by hyperinflation a type of scenario long suggested by the people at the http://theautomaticearth.com/ blog
In summary then it may be premature to celebrate and even if the analysis presented here is wrong, there is no reason to celebrate a slightly better repayment condition for a debt which we should not be paying for in the first place.
From: http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/cost-of-borrowing-fall...2013/
"The new bonds – eight in total – fall due in 2038 and every two years between 2041 and 2053, with an interest margin of between 2.50 and 2.68 per cent – plus the ‘Euribor’, the rate at which European banks lend to each other – on each one."
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And the "Euribor" complication is itself further complicated by the "Interest rate swaps" device, which is a "derivatives instrument": referred to by some well informed people as the most lethal "weapon of financial mass destruction" known to humanity.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euribor ...
"Interest rate swaps based on short Euribors currently trade on the interbank market for maturities up to 50 years. A "five year Euribor" will be in fact referring to the 5 year swap rate vs 6 month Euribor. "Euribor + x basis points", when talking about a bond, will mean that the bond's cash flows have to be discounted on the swaps' zero-coupon yield curve shifted by x basis points in order to equal the bond's actual market price."
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interest_rate_swap ...
"An interest rate swap (IRS) is a popular and highly liquid financial derivative instrument in which two parties agree to exchange interest rate cash flows, based on a specified notional amount from a fixed rate to a floating rate (or vice versa) or from one floating rate to another.[1] Interest rate swaps are commonly used for both hedging and speculating."
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I wonder if any of the above potentially dangerous complications were mentioned during the emergency legislation debates?
I think I probably already know the answer to that question, and I also think it highly likely the main reason for all the rushing was to make sure the above mentioned complications never were raised during the Dáil Éireann debates: which should be easy to check up on at our Government's web site -- for anybody who feels so inclined, that is: which I don't.
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Related Link:
Derivatives, weapons of financial mass destruction, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, Prime Minister Enda Kenny ...
http://tinyurl.com/abqys87
The point has been raised by many people as to how come all the most important decisions of this country are always made in a hurry in the space of 15 minutes or so. And yet the really non important stuff gets debated endlessly for weeks?