So, erm, that article in the Times about the bank bailout everyone is reading (4 Viewers)

[Denny Oubidoux]

We should all go on a year long riot, like the feckin Greeks. Seriously though, most people still seem willing to go along with the status quo, even though everything's obviously falling apart...

friend, I don't get my kicks startin fights and thrown bricks.

 

[hugh]

This will likely involve cutting public sector pay across the board, likely by a double digit percentage figure.

Don't forget that this has already been done.

There was an interesting piece somewhere a while ago about a recently published IMF report/paper which came to the conclusion that the slash and burn approach to cutting public expenditure that is the usual IMF prescription can more often that not depress the economy rather than stimulate it. Obviously lots of people hold that view, but it was unusual in that this was coming from within the IMF itself ...

Anyway, surely our real problem is not public sector expenditure (or at least it would not be so much of a problem if Fianna Fail had not destroyed the tax base) - our real problem is funding the massive cost of the bank bailout and, if Kelly is right, the forthcoming mortgage crisis/disaster. This shit won't be solved by doing things differently in the public service, as that eejit Enda Kenny would like everyone to think. That's just delusional.

 

[Anthony]

Good episode of This American Life this week called Toxie that deals with mortgage defaulters, more or less.

 

[shower another shower]

Good episode of This American Life this week called Toxie that deals with mortgage defaulters, more or less.

+1

 

[Mormon Nailer]

right - europe/ireland aside, is this summatiuon of world/great power economics correct?

china makes shit
america/europe buys shit in great quantities from china - their own industry declines
china lends money to america/europe to buy more shit
china buys countries to provide raw materials to make shit
goto 1.

is the western world assuring its own destruction by gorging on iPhones, cheap jeans and sparkly crap?
what happens to china when the rest of the world cant buy shit any more?, or defaults on their debt to china?

Not exactly.
Take the iPhone
They may be manufactured in China however the IP and much of the profit still sit in the US.
China is still just doing the scut work.

 

[D0njo]

Kent Brockman: Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?
Professor: Yes I would, Kent.

I wasn't serious about rioting like the feckin Greeks, just maybe a bit of reorganisation... c'mon, if we all chip in we'll have it done in 20 minutes

 

[ann post]

I wasn't serious about rioting like the feckin Greeks, just maybe a bit of reorganisation... c'mon, if we all chip in we'll have it done in 20 minutes

if they ahd patented gayness they wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[billygannon]

It's time to start a 2nd Republic. There is a Presidential election next year and this is an opportunity to elect someone who will actually introduce this.

The major institutions like the Catholic church, the banks and the main political parties have all lost credibility. There is no longer an institutional bedrock underpinning the Irish Republic. Indeed, one of the fundamentals of the constitution - sovereignty of the whole island of Ireland - was amended as part of the Good Friday agreement. It needs to change - and it needs to change now.

 

[therealjohnny]

Can we split into a 'Good' Republic and a 'Bad' Republic?

 

[pete]

i'm still hoping the man who loaned us the money forgets

 

[ratmonkey]

Can we split into a 'Good' Republic and a 'Bad' Republic?

A banana republic, but we probably don't have the climate.

 

[egg_]

How do you start a new political party?

 

[ann post]

How do you start a new political party?

you latch on to 2-3 major swing causes.

i.e.: gay rights, abortion etc. in this country you need to swing the catholic/g.a.a. - they are suckers for that stuff. you spend a year or two being right wing about those things. then you do whatever the fuck you want for 20 years because your 'on their side'.

 

[billygannon]

How do you start a new political party?

Invite your friends around, have lots of drink and just bitch, bitch, bitch all night long!

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

where will we locate the new republic?

 

[taubstumm]

Invite your friends around, have lots of drink and just bitch, bitch, bitch all night long!

talking of bitching, and scapegoats, and blame...

when olli rehn was giving his speech at the i.i.e.a., which was covered on the news, they showed a clip of anti-e.u. protesters outside.

i've heard a few mutterings about how we'd be 'better off' if we'd stayed outside the e.u. and got through this ourselves.

not only is this not a persuasive argument, it's not even a coherent one. why are people (not just taxi drivers, but people who ought to know better) making it? i'm no fan of the e.u., but imagine for a moment that we were outside the tent looking in. we'd have a worthless irish punt (no bailout funds, no euro to be protected, nobody giving a fuck), and zero pressure from outside to get our shit sorted. similar to, say, the congo or guatemala or the like.

they may be 'unelected' 'eurocrats' and all the rest of it. but they know what they're doing. we don't. i don't like the fact that we're stuck with liberal-capitalist song and dance, but for as long as we are, we should be glad we're on the inside this time around. we're the children. they're the adults.

edit: you can see the clip here.

 

[billygannon]

where will we locate the new republic?

It must start in our hearts

 

[billygannon]

where will we locate the new republic?

it must start in our hearts

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

where will we locate the new republic?

the bay of bengal.and what the waitress said.

 

[billygannon]

talking of bitching, and scapegoats, and blame...

when olli rehn was giving his speech at the i.i.e.a., which was covered on the news, they showed a clip of anti-e.u. protesters outside.

i've heard a few mutterings about how we'd be 'better off' if we'd stayed outside the e.u. and got through this ourselves.

not only is this not a persuasive argument, it's not even a coherent one. why are people (not just taxi drivers, but people who ought to know better) making it? i'm no fan of the e.u., but imagine for a moment that we were outside the tent looking in. we'd have a worthless irish punt (no bailout funds, no euro to be protected, nobody giving a fuck), and zero pressure from outside to get our shit sorted. similar to, say, the congo or guatemala or the like.

they may be 'unelected' 'eurocrats' and all the rest of it. but they know what they're doing. we don't. i don't like the fact that we're stuck with liberal-capitalist song and dance, but for as long as we are, we should be glad we're on the inside this time around. we're the children. they're the adults.

edit: you can see the clip here.

Isolationists are the kind of people who would have competed in the Gaelic Olympics.