Goodbye Ireland...

I care. I'm long on Euro zone government bonds. I perceive the loans to be good for long term Euro zone government bond prices in Europe. Still much better yields there that I think will hold up in the next 4 to 9 months. Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Best of luck. Or if not that, then at least the luck of the Irish.

Ireland will be Ireland for the foreseeable future. The Island's identity (like many European nations) will be assailed more thru cable TV and the internet in the coming decades than a debt crisis.

However...

Around 1999 my business cohort came back from a 3 mos. assignment in Holland. On the flight over, he had sat by a businessman who had opened a factory in Ireland. The businessman conveyed that he was warned during the factory bid process that 6 mos. after the factory opened, they would have 40% of the workforce on some type of permanent disability. He laughed it off. Sure enough, after 6 mos., it was close to 40%.

Winston Churchill's England, Bono's Ireland and, dare I say, John Wayne's America doesn't exist today.

Ireland ..ahh shed no tear for ireland on this its most recent and comparatively minor tempest....its people have weathered so much more than this....mud caked, hut living, serfdom...famine and strife...sold out by kings and those entrusted with the people's safe-keeping... kept whole by dreams and song and tradition..it will survive as its people are survivors...

step into its pubs and listen to the music of the people... go to malloys in County Meath, ancient seat of the high kings of Ireland

let me take you there with help....

sit back in your seat and sip at your beer. close your eyes and prick your ears as men walk into the bar and launch into song and then head out again...

in comes a man with slick black hair and watery eyes..he cant look at you but all the locals turn their attention to him....as if they had waited and waited for him and for his secrets meant for them alone... their eyes were trying to pry something out of him, but he stared into his pint as if wishing to be left alone. Finally he gives in and stands, walking to the center of the pub...he looks off into the distance, his shoes dusty and his gray wool suit rumpled and frayed. He breathes deep, filling lungs, and then pursing his lips, pushes out a long slow note, the place goes quiet, all pints go down.
the man, with closed eyes, whistles a sad, soaring tune, the sound from his lips filling up the room.

When he finshed, tears were seen on men's faces and the roar of applause filled the room. The whistling tradition was from a leaner time, when instruments in Ireland weren't to be found, for money was too precious even for song.

Ireland will survive these times. Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

Amen.

Ireland will survive these times. Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

Word!

Around 1999 my business cohort came back from a 3 mos. assignment in Holland. On the flight over, he had sat by a businessman who had opened a factory in Ireland. The businessman conveyed that he was warned during the factory bid process that 6 mos. after the factory opened, they would have 40% of the workforce on some type of permanent disability. He laughed it off. Sure enough, after 6 mos., it was close to 40%. Originally Posted by gnadfly

I guess it is not bigotry to make comments like this about the Irish.

Maybe if they blew up a few planes, they could get some respect.

I guess it is not bigotry to make comments like this about the Irish.

Maybe if they blew up a few planes, they could get some respect. Originally Posted by pjorourke

LOL....we Irish have blown up a thing or two in the not to distant past!

LOL....we Irish have blown up a thing or two in the not to distant past! Originally Posted by WTF

Yeah, but usually the wrong things. Eyes get a little bleary after the 4th pint.

I guess it is not bigotry to make comments like this about the Irish.

Maybe if they blew up a few planes, they could get some respect. Originally Posted by pjorourke

yeah, any place with mostly fair-skinned citizens is fair game for stereotypes

Yeah, but usually the wrong things. Eyes get a little bleary after the 4th pint. Originally Posted by John Bull

Global bond funds were still up today. Good news. They seem to have weathered the crisis well.

. . . and the Irish sentiment is . . .

I guess it is not bigotry to make comments like this about the Irish.

Maybe if they blew up a few planes, they could get some respect. Originally Posted by pjorourke

Bigotry? Please.

Its just the legal environment in the Eurozone that makes it impossible to fire anyone. We have the same problem in France, Holland and Hungary. Most of the people who actually do the work are contractors. BTW, I should have written long-term disability instead of permanent disability.

Now go crawl back into your bottle PJ.

Global bond funds were still up today. Good news. They seem to have weathered the crisis well. Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Money makes the world go around. I am glad your long is doing you well, mostly because, I assume, the Euro Zone Bond market is doing well or at least steady. You wanted to speculate; the Irish people didn’t. Somewhere along the line, honest people trying to make an investment has been abused by the more-is-better crowd, and now it has blown up into a global, economic nightmare. I don’t know if joining the EU when they weren’t ready (someone commented on that), the “Greed is Good” mentality or both caused it, but the common people are the ones that get to pay.

(A bit off topic, sometimes the movers and shakers pay – Tom Delay was convicted today!)

PJ, the Irish are pretty well stepped in bombing as a way of accomplishing their goals. I guess the difference between some terrorists and Irish terrorists is the “You’ve got ten minutes to get out!” phone call. Patriots or terrorists? I guess it’s in the eye of the beholder.

Do I think the Irish will come out the other end well? Probably. Who’s to say what’s on the other side of this economic meltdown for anyone.

My Sweeties, they are PIIGS. (You forgot Italy.)

Not to worry, P.J.

Ben can just order up some 'roids for those Fed printing presses.

Just a few keystrokes and presto! -- the Fed has another trillion bucks so that it can write checks to whomever it wants. I mean, how cool is that!

If buying Treasuries doesn't do the trick, they can buy stocks directly. Then they can hire people to contact real estate agents and start buying single family homes.

If that doesn't support asset values and spark the economy, they can hire a few thousand people (simultaneously taking a bite out of the unemployment rate!) to buy stuff sold on eBay with printed money!

We ain't Ireland! Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

That's all fine and dandy until we lose our status as the dollar being the world reserve currency. In fact, Russia and China announced that they will no longer trade oil in dollars as of the 24th of this month, but I'm sure you knew that already since I agree w ur financial posts.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/8542...rop-dollar.htm

The terms of the deal were confirmed over the weekend. Ireland (population just less than 5 million) will borrow c.80 billion Euros - roughly $100 billion - from its 'friends' across the rest of the EU.

To get the equivalent number for the UK and US populations, multiply the loan by 12 and 60 respectively.

Where's William Jennings Bryan when we need him to run for office?

Where's William Jennings Bryan when we need him to run for office? Originally Posted by Clerkenwell

Real attorneys aren't in politics anymore.

However, WJB might have been reincarnated into Rudy Guiliani.