The prospect of having to sell off all those orphan unsold dog boxes on the open market in a liquidation has filled the bankers with terror; clearly such a sell-off would be at fire-sale prices, and bring the price of property down to where the market value would truly obtain. It would also mean that that the banks would face massive write downs on their loan books.

This they do not like one little bit. They, and their friends in the Golden Circle and the lick-arse acolytes in the media and politics, well, they would much rather the taxpayer should pay for their losses.

Remember, the Glorious Leaders who got us here now plan the banks debts should be bought by NAMA, the proposed National Asset Management Agency, being set up to dump their debt on us, at inflated prices, with the slim possibility of us seeing a return within 20 or 30 years. Just like the AIB disaster in 1985 when it got bigger than its boots, and bought a business it did not understand. The Insurance Corporation of Ireland cost all PAYE taxpayers in Ireland which was only recently stopped, after more than 20 years. This is what Wikipedia has to say:

The Can of Worms at ICI was the headline in Business & Finance magazine on 8 November 1984.^[3] Insurance Corporation of Ireland (ICI) was a wholly owned subsidiary of AIB when it collapsed in 1985 with losses of over £200 million that had arisen due to severe under-reserving and poor underwriting performance, particularly in its London office. Reinsurance business accounted for nearly half the company’s income. ICI management were at fault for failing to closely monitor the activities of its London office, to find out what business was being written, whether adequate reserves were being maintained and to monitor the true profitability of the business. When it was discovered in November 1984 that ICI was operating below the statutory reserve ratio, a request for further capital was made to AIB – ICI had returned a profit of £80 million the previous year.

This collapse occurred at a time of deep economic recession in Ireland. The level of Government debt at that time was 116% of GDP. But the Irish taxpayer bailed ICI out of its difficulties. The Irish Government did so to ensure a continuation of the insurance business and to protect policyholders. AIB claimed that it could not resolve the problems of ICI without putting its core banking business in jeopardy. The investment of £85 million by AIB in ICI was written off and the cost to the Irish taxpayer was £400 million^[4].’
The article goes on to remind us the involvement in the tax fraud of the bogus overseas accounts, the deal helping Haughey once he became Taoiseach, the Rusniak losses of $700,000,000, the overcharging issues,and so much more. (Want to guess how many senior heads rolled? Count them on the fingers of your foot.)

Fair play to ACC for sticking to their guns. It is not really that surprising really. Being owned by Rabobank, which is Dutch and so unable to join the NAMA scam, they want their pound of flesh. And they are prepared to bring the whole rotten house of cards down. They are owed €126 million, but Mr Carroll owes more than €1 Billion to Irish banks.
Rabobank directors did not go to school or college with that other happy bunch of the Irish senior elite. They didn’t play rugby for Mary’s, or Blackrock or any of the schools which produce the same self-perpetuating elite.
They are following the logic of the market. Oversupply leads to price reductions, and we are well  oversupplied with unsold apartments.

But the elite who run this country,those who are not happy telling us we must slash and burn our social services, the arts,education and healthcare, those who  have spent so much time lecturing us on ‘how the market determines true value’ have suddenly decided that the same inexorable laws should not apply to them.

Instead they attempt to blackmail us yet again. The Italians have an expression for times like this: Ora, basta! It doesn’t carry the same weight in English but translates roughly as an angry, ‘OK,that’s enough!‘

The man convicted of being responsible for the downing of the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie in December 1988 murdering 270 people has terminal cancer, and may be allowed go home to Libya, in order to die with his family around him. This is something neither the people slaughtered in the air nor those sleeping on the ground got to enjoy.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 27 years after being convicted in 2001 of the 1988 bombing, and has always denied his guilt. See Article here

Now it looks possible he may be released. Up to last week two possibilities for his release existed. One was straightforward release into Libyan custody, the other was that his second appeal, which his lawyers claim would bring important new evidence forward to clear him, and which might have embarrassed several governments, would succeed.
However, he would probably die before the appeal would finish, it seems.

Then last week he suddenly got a visit from the Scottish Justice Minister.
Then he withdrew his appeal, which seems odd. Why spend years trying to claim innocence, then withdraw the claim when dying, unless some pressure was applied.

The relatives left mourning their dead are divided about the prospect of any compassion being shown to this man, just as they are divided about his guilt.
They are also divided by the side of the Atlantic they happen to be on, with many of the British relatives seriously unhappy with the trial, and highly suspicious that a man was convicted for convenience.

The trial itself was a curious affair, held in odd circumstances, and which many people feel did not get to the truth of who was actually responsible.
Some suggest Syria, others Iran (which had a civilian aircraft shot down by an American warship, USS Vinciennes, with the loss of 290 innocent civilians. The ship was exonerated later, and the crew given medals, I understand).
This was at a time when tension was high and the Reagan government was involved in many dark deeds.
The verdict did not really seem to tie in with the evidence given, perhaps echoing convenient previous verdicts in cases such as the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four and so on. Now that a Court of Appeal has found that sufficient new evidence existed to allow a rare second appeal to go ahead, al Megrahi might have shown his innocence. And a light might have been shone on some things governments would rather prefer we never find out.

However, it does seem that the British relatives are largely willing to allow him die at home, whilst some high profile Americans are outraged at the very idea. What that tells us about the differences between Brits and the US  might be simply due to politicians following the loudest media-led or media-created furore.

Or it could simply show us how inhumane the US has become. Prominent Americans, as well as many ordinary citizens seem to have taken the Old Testament doctrine of an eye for an eye to heart, rather than the Christian one of ‘love your neighbour’.

Over here, we’re largely secular, or godless, whereas Americans tend to be believers. Odd, then, that we should seem to be more secular yet more in tune with Jesus.

After many years of seeking out the truth of just how the licence for the second mobile phone company was handed out by the Minister of the time, Michael Lowry of the Fine Gael coalition, it seems that the Moriarty Tribunal is getting ready to publish its conclusions.

Like all good rugby types, the man who was awarded the most lucrative licence since Ray Burke gave away our oil and gas rights got his retaliation in first. He owns 29.9% of INM, and now has three directors on the board of the group which owns or controls The Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Evening Herald, Herald am, The Star and the Sunday World. It also has a controlling interest in the Sunday Tribune.

So it is hardly surprising that he used his own papers to attack a Tribunal report, a report which we have yet to see, in an effort to damage the credibility of the Tribunal.
What was surprising was his attack on some of his own journalists, such as Matt Cooper, one of the few main presenters with a solid grounding in business.

Getting your retaliation in first is a rugby saying, and comes from a Lions tour. So we see ads placed by Mr O’Brien, full page ads drawing attention to the alleged excessive and seemingly greedy expenses claimed by the barristers in the employ of the Tribunal, already on eye-watering daily rates.
These ads were placed anonymously, and only refused by the Irish Times which insisted on knowing who was running the campaign, to its credit.
Quite why he attempted to hide his identity is not clear. The tactics of diversion are however long familiar to us all:muddy the waters, smear your enemies, set up straw enemies, deliberately misquote and make false claims about opponents, attempt to undermine their credibility and so on.

We are, of course, used to hearing of corruption in the ranks of Fianna Fail, because we have been entertained/appalled by the Dunlop revelations, not to forget the amazing cast in the Planning Tribunal, including the man whose revelations kicked the whole thing off. I do realise that Moriarty is separate investigation but it was because of the revelations of one man that some of the larger flat stones in Irish society began to be overturned. Will we forget Jim Gogarty ever? To quote himself, albeit in a slightly different context: will we fuck.

But let us not forget that Fine Gael mysteriously managed to clear massive debts in only a few short years in power. Not only that, but just as Charvet Haughey had his debts forgiven by a bank hoping to recoup its investment, so did Garret Fitzgerald. Isn’t it odd how seldom we hear about that?
Just like the fiasco in insurance, when AIB bought an insurance company, screwed up, and we all spent 20+ years paying for it. Do see the Wikipedia article on AIB, particularly the section on Controversy, here The management and shareholders were mightily relieved when the ICI (Insurance Corportion of Ireland) millstone, which was entirely caused by their own incompetence, was transferred from their smooth necks, and swiftly attached to the necks of the great unwashed.

How many decision-makers at the bank got sacked? When it happened it cost the Irish taxpayer, in 1985 when the country was deep in the mire and emigration and despair stalked the land once again, some €400 Million, or five times the profit earned by AIB the previous year.
Let us not forget, either, that at the time the bank was engaged in fraudulent schemes to defraud the Revenue, helping ensure that PAYE payers bore the burden of income tax rates higher than the ones which would have obtained, had the wealthier sections of society paid their share. Meantime we got to pay a fortune via the bank levy to fund the debt, and the bank only finally cleared the debt after some prodding in the last few years.
So how many of these local mini-Masters of the Universe running the ban lost their jobs?
Errrr, none, actually, as far as I know but I am open to correction here.
And what did they learn?

That they could be careless with risk. Get it right, and become hugely wealthy. Get it wrong on a massive scale? Shrug your shoulders and get bailed out by the State, then carry on without a worry in the world. And that when they made money they deserved bonuses, but if they lost, then we would pay. Just as a couple of centuries back, the officers of  a defeated and captured garrison would be treated as gentlemen. The enlisted men might expect no such kindness.

We are being told that should the Tribunal find that corruption or other dodgy behaviour caused the licence to be unfairly awarded that then we are looking at the possibility of the State being sued for gazillions. No mention of the beneficiary being sued, and no likelihood of any of the suborned being made personally culpable or liable.

So O’Brien seeks to defuse the latest coming scandal,using expensive but effective PR methods. I look forward to this weekend’s installments.

Bankers bailed out by the taxpayer report record profits, much of which has come because of the reduction in competition. Which raised their profits whilst government guarantees kept them afloat.

Now these same dudes know that they can get away with it, why shouldn’t they try it again? After all, we know these guys are first out of the traps to tell us that it is our spending patterns which need adjustment.

Whilst we are told we need wage cuts, ‘to make us competitive’, senior bankers inform us that they need bonuses. Otherwise, it seems, they won’t be able to retain or attract ‘the brightest and the best’ in their world.

Errrm. Just who got us into this mess?

And it is under constant attack for alleged liberal and leftist tendencies. That their attackers make have other ulterior motives goes seemingly unremarked.

Last week Pat Kenny launched a serious attack on the minimum wage of EUR 8.65 per hour, a rate which has not increased since 2007. This is a bit rich coming from a man who, even after accepting a pay cut of 10%, still earns EUR 375 per hour. (Calculated assuming 40 hours per week, and 48 weeks working per annum, and a salary of EUR 720k post snip)

His guest was Gerry Robinson, a man who owns a large chunk of Donegal, and who has run several large firms. Encouraged to agree with Pat that the minimum wage was actually a major factor in our economic decline, he readily agreed, and suggested that we need to reduce it in order to be ‘competitive’.

He (Robinson) then went on to express his contempt for elected politicians. The certainty with which he spoke of need to have competent people run the economy will have stuck a chord with those who used get evening phone-calls from their bank,offering all kinds of novel ways to become indebted. The tone of the calls clients are get nowadays is of an entirely different tenor.

It may have been then, or perhaps the next day, when Mr Kenny either made a mistake or else willfully misrepresented the statement issued by the greedy owners of the former De Beers plant in Shannon, now owned by Element Six. Their statement said that the cost of doing business here was the cause of the decision of the pull-out. It didn’t mention the minimum wage, for the very good reason that the cost of wages is but one of the factors in business costs. Others include rent costs, and the much maligned local government charges, such as rates and water rates; we also pay to have our trash hauled away. All of these and more make up part of the costs. Rent zoomed during the boom; I know of one shop rental which went from 16k to 48k pa between 1998 and 2006.

However we must give Mr Kenny the benefit of having misspoken, PR speak for getting it wrong, perhaps. Well that is what I thought, even though I found myself giving out about him on Facebook, as well as strangely being galvanised into action, sending a flurry of emails, so infuriated was I.
I emailed the programme, but it seemed that only messages agreeing with the need to take money from those least equipped to deal with it got through.
(Some might argue that people on the minimum wage don’t usually hear the show, and that anyone with time to contribute is almost certainly either rich or unemployed. Most working people need two salaries to survive, and some decide to live more frugally in order to actually get to be a real part of their kids lives)

What really got up my nose was his returning to the issue with his ‘Friday Gathering’, his attempt at looking back at the Zeitgeist, when he continued to push the topic, even after Leo Varadkar (FG) had pointed out that attacking the lowest paid was not on.

He (Varadker) pointed out that a wage of 17k was pretty minimal, as a cut was unlikely to save jobs. Reducing the minimum wage by 50 cents per hour would save an employer paying the minimum in a small business EUR 20 per employee a week. Even laying to one side the intense sense of pride workers feel they have in firms they have helped the management build, and in which they feel involved, this would save an employer  with 5 employees a mere 100 euros a week. If 5k a year means your business is in danger, it really is time to look for a new opportunity.

But Pat and his like will keep on pushing this line, further punishing the very people who who benefited least from our very own Celtic Ponzi scheme.

As the old Dublin saying has it, ‘Get outa that garden, Pat’.

I know about this: I was once on the Pat Kenny show and was asked a question I had no answer to as it referred to something I did not know because I had not been told. It was a killer question and referred to something important which happened some time before my experience. I stuttered and stumbled, stunned, and lamely passed the question over to my fellow representative who dealt with it quite well, all things considered. We had roughly prepared our script,but this diversion wasted our precious time. And my floundering was my own fault : I should have asked if there was anything I could be ambushed with. I didn’t and was ambushed. I should have guessed that the show’s researchers would have been in touch with all the other players in the story, looking for an angle
The result was we lost precious airtime when we were forced on the defensive when we could have been putting our cause to the nation.

So media relations should be taken in hand by the Greens and other progressives . If a climate change denier is set up to challenge a Minister, that Minister should be thoroughly briefed on their opponents. Be able to show the studies which show the links between the denier and energy companies. Be able to quote real, rather than dodgy. science, and able to remind people that the tactics used by the deniers are those used 50 years ago by those who denied the link between cigarettes and cancer, when some scientists prostituted themselves to ensure that tobacco remained little regulated, by casting doubt on the emerging proof. Even when tobacco firms actually were themselves aware of the hazards of smoking, a fact which emerged in court decades later, as a result of the discovery process.

Greed and profit were allowed condemn millions to death by lung cancer, and while the tobacco companies looked after themselves and their shareholders, the State gets to pay the health-care costs. Another case of socialism for the rich.
This time it is even more serious than cancer, because we won’t be able to reverse climate change damage, whilst we can choose to stop smoking. The traditional thinking holds that damages for a wrong can be compensated for in the courts of law, and whilst it has served well enough till now and enriched lawyers, it does not serve now. Some things cannot be replaced with money. And the economic value of the environment is seldom taken into account.

The public really need to know the lengths that big business will go to in order to ensure that their interests triumph.
Lots of money is spent on keeping tame journalists, paid-advisors and pet politicians ‘informed’ and sweet. Media focus on non-stories and ignore some more important ones.Here in Ireland the coverage of the Shell north Mayo story would be a case, where coverage has been mostly hostile to the protesters and is sparse. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation the little we hear could easily seem to be pretty onesided, and the protesters portrayed as violent Luddites/subversive/drunks/hippie/lefty anarchists.
Journalists attending conferences get goody bags, and important ones – important to clients of the conference organisers,that is – get special access to important people. This helps their careers and clearly only fools or well-resourced journalists have the integrity to bite the hand that feeds them.

This isn’t regarded as corruption, but surely journalists should have to have a register of interests just as politicians must; perhaps then we might be better informed. After all, the politician who got hospitality could well be accused (by a journalist) of favoritism were he to do anything which might be construed as being of assistance to the donor.
How can we be sure they haven’t just sold us out? Again. Just as they did when the reign of terror ran and ruined the lives of the kids in the industrial schools. When the media were complicit in the conspiracy of silence.

I have always been amazed by the loyalty shown by former soldiers for the British Army. Especially given how badly they are treated when no longer of use. It says a lot for the re-programming ability of the military.

But could it be the case that the speed with which the police decided there is nothing worth further investigation might have something to do with information gleaned from having their own privacy invaded at the behest of News International.? Only a cynic would suggest that the media outlets it owns are influenced by the opinions of the owner, and even sometimes, by the political aims of the proprietor.

Because it is true that the greatness of the man is underestimated. He issues no guidelines, no diktats, no directions to his editors. Ordinary mortals all, the editors of all his papers somehow all always come to the same editorial conclusions as the astonishing Mr Murdoch at election times. Odd indeed, no, I should say rare indeed , are the occasions when a Murdoch paper editorial disagreed with the Boss. Of course this could just be an extraordinary outbreak of telepathy or simply brown-nosing with scuba gear.

This man has demeaned the level of public discourse and the fabric of the societies where his companies have media interests.It hardly comes as a surprise that the Sun denounces the licence fee whilst failing to mention that Sky costs a whole lot more. Or that his papers constantly attack Public service broadcasters, or limits on cross-media ownership. (This does not apply to Italy, where Berlusconi has TV pretty sewn-up, I imagine)

If the NoW was hiring private investigators to snoop on private citizens, regardless of whether they were famous or not, is very disturbing. Many still remember the behavior of the Sun after Hillsborough,when it disgraced itself by wild and untrue allegations of bad behaviouer by the victims of the police-made disaster, who are still waiting for justice. Others will remember the Sun for the miners strike, and the crude bragging that ‘It wos the Sun wot won it!’ after a Tory election victory. Some will recall the ‘Gotcha! headline celebrating the sinking of the Belgrano, an Argentinian ship which was the last surviving battleship from Pearl Harbour, and which was actually steaming away from the Malvinas/Falkland as demanded. Hundreds of conscript Argentinian sailors perished in the South Atlantic. The submarine made no effort to rescue them.

The Guardian broke this story and because of it, the former Editor of the News of the World and senior executives were forced to reappear before a House of Commons committee in order to explain apparent discrepancies in their evidence.  (see http://preview.tinyurl.com/n4zmz4 )

Why does this matter? Because the former Editor is now Cameron’s chief spin doctor.

Because all of the recalled strangely suffered total failure of their own recollection in front of the MPs.

Because we have no reason to suspect that the tactics of the Murdoch press here in Ireland would be any different. Certainly the Oirish Sunday Times and Oirish Sun are hostile to Europe.

Because his papers spend a lot of time rubbishing RTE, a competitor which costs us less than Sky.

Because they can’t be trusted.

Oh, and we  get to pay for it. So do our kids,and probably our grandkids too.

So to cover for the fact that there is a total lack of accountability in our civil and public service tradition, a tradition which ensures we have expensive Official Inquiries which fail to point fingers, which can be guaranteed to enrich loads of lawyers whilst failing to  find anyone actually responsible.. For anything. Ever.

Of course, the State has form in this area:witness the dreadful treatment of the kids in our State institutions at the hands of vile humans whose actions were concealed for years. Actions connived in by functionaries of the State who had not only lost their humanity, but somehow also managed to mislay their alleged Christianity.

So it is with an Bord Snip Nua. The membership of this group has been selected to examine how the Government spends our money and see where savings can be made. And it is hardly surprising,then, that a bunch of neo-liberal economists come up with a menu of cuts in public services designed to reflect their out-dated and failed economic model. The very model of economics these same gurus support, and the one which got us here.

So this might be a good time to recall just what it was that got us here. After all, we keep being told that we are where we are.

I seem to recall economic commentators assuring nervous investors that there would be a soft landing when our overheated property market would eventually cool down. These eminent commentators usually worked for newspapers which were doing rather well from the property bubble. The Property Supplements swelled due to the weight of  advertising as we were assured that the influx of ‘New Irish’ was guaranteed to buy or rent all those ugly new housing estates suddenly being built on the edges of villages al over the country. Besides, we had a long waiting list for social homes, and low-interest rates would enable them to buy a property of their own. Now, they too could buy into the dream.

And naturally the banks were there to help us out. With bigger and better loans and mortgages. Mind you, these same banks lent the funds to someone to buy the land. He would then sell to a developer for an inflated price once planning permission was gained, using money borrowed from the bank. In turn the owner could choose to either develop it, or flip it again. So a builder contracts to build and sell the houses, and is in turn financed by his bank. Notice that the bank is making a profit on each  of these loans. The builder uses sub-contractors, who often have to to wait for payment until the punters start buying the houses. On mortgages from the bank. Like a stone thrown into a pond the effect ripples outwards, involving all sorts of people..

So a vast new housing estate springs up in the flood plain on the outskirts of Ballyshocktameela, a village of perhaps 10 houses, a pub and a graveyard,  ‘Only 70 minutes from Dublin by car! River views too! Live the rural life’ say the full-page ads,and curiously enough, there’s an editorial piece with a glowing write  up

So far the banks managed to take a chunk out of each transaction. But the new development  isn’t going to sell itself, so a bunch of professional ‘experts’ get involved.  This includes a bunch of folk who are talent for hire – here the word talent is loosely defined. So there are a whole load of parasites who profit from the selling of houses in newly-minted estates. This causes some schemes to be totally sold out before a single brick is laid.

Did I say parasites? No, surely I meant to salute all those whose contribution to the dream-selling process was so vital to the enterprise: the photographers, the graphic designers, the copy writers. I salute them since they are usually working to a brief.

The biggest piggy-backers are those monopolists who we have no choice but to use. Solicitors, surveyors, mortgage brokers, many are those with their snouts deep in the trough. Large chunks of the money poured into their banks or simply vanished offshore. The role of journalists too should be examined. Why were we being constantly being badgered and hectored to buy property before it got even more expensive? The media claque and hype drove the market, forcing the biggest redistribution of wealth ever in our society since the days of the Normans.

This was a direct transfer of wealth upwards.

That the increase in property value was inexorably upwards, as we were being constantly told, caused  parents to remortgage the home they had just paid off after 20 years. Having just managed to support their kids through University,they now discover their seemingly worth €300oo0 or more. So in order to get their kids on the lowest rung of the property ladder they take out another loan to finance the deposit .Before long we had 110% mortgages and 40 year loans on the new houses. Both of the young parents in the new houses had to work full-time to pay for childcare and make the repayments,and were constantly being assured that their loss of time with their kids would at least ensure their kids had a nest-egg in their turn. Meantime, the remortgaged grandparents have both to carry on working to pay the new debt, and are back on the treadmill. If the grandparents are ‘lucky’ enough to live anywhere near their offspring, they suddenly find themselves roped in as child-minders, just when they might reasonably have hoped to have had their lives back to themselves, having already looked after the needs of a previous generation. And as grandparent once explained,she liked having kids around.What she liked even better was knowing she  would be giving them back soon.

And now the arse has fallen out of the property market the same economists who constantly reassured us that property was on an inexorable upward curve, the economists working for the banks, these same people have the gall to try to blame the public for buying into the fantasy so successfully sold by all the media. That is what really gets me.

Banks rang me to try to get me to borrow, to inform me I was pre-approved for a loan I neither asked for, nor needed. My credit limit on my credit card went up five-fold, and the television and press were full of ads urging us to buy,buy,buy. On borrowed money.

Being told that we, the great unwashed, the ‘units of consumption’,as we  are known, are culpable makes my blood boil.

All that advertising had no undue influence, or indeed, any influence at all? The pressitute journalists who hyped the joys of property and mortgage ownership have some responsibility too.

‘Nobody forced anyone to take out a loan or borrow to buy a house’ we are told.We shouldn’t have borrowed more than we could afford we are told by those who are on fat salaries.

Yeah, right. I’ll be back to this.