S & P says " Changes in Government needed to win back confidence"on Newstalk

[yehbut_nobut]

No, his meaning is clear, the word "or" trips a lot of people up



Cowen is saying he doesn't know what the extent of the S&P guys knowledge is.... which is quite a reasonable statement.

cYp

Hmm...

“I have no comment to make on the gentleman from the credit ratings agency. I don’t know what he knows about[COLOR=Blue] [COLOR=Black]Irish politics [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=Black]or what the choices are. ”[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Black]

(ie- Cowen's implication is, "he knows something I don't!")

[/COLOR]Of course we understand what he was trying to say, but still, not a very bright clever way of expressing it, is it?

[cyberianpan]

Hmm...

[COLOR=Black]

(ie- Cowen's implication is, "he knows something I don't!")

[/COLOR]Of course we understand what he was trying to say, but still, not a very bright clever way of expressing it, is it?

Cowen's implication is more likely that the S&P chap hasn't assessed the alternatives ... a FG/Labour coalition would unlikely be to the S&P dude's satisfaction:

Eamon Gilmore: there should only be a €2.5 billion adjustment - is he credible ?

I actually found Cowen's quote rather laconic and amusing.

cYp

[Ah Well]

We are carrying 33k debt for every person in Ireland. Well done FF.

Yes, presumably this came from the financial type talking to Keane at lunchtime 31/3/09 on Newstalk (which I heard) .... very sobering indeed .... whether or not his figures were right (and he was rather insistent they were) it was sobering ... kinda a kick in the butt back to reality which one knows is already there ... and bad ... but maybe subconsciously trying to avoid it and move on ... as one tries to do ... naturally

[mmrebel]

INTERNATIONAL CREDIT ratings agency Standards & Poor’s has attempted to defuse the controversy surrounding its comments about the Government’s ability to lead Ireland out of recession.

He said: “It is not about leadership. It’s about the enormity of the challenge and the uncertainty of what’s going to happen with the banking system in particular.”

Mr Gill was commenting after the agency had been accused by senior political figures of an inappropriate intervention in Irish politics.

In the Dáil yesterday Taoiseach Brian Cowen queried what the experts from the ratings agency knew about Irish politics, while Labour Party deputy leader Joan Burton said the composition of the Irish Government was not the business of a “foreign ratings agency”.

Former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald questioned the timing of the S&P intervention, saying the agency would have been wiser to wait until after next Tuesday’s budget to make its judgment.

In its report downgrading the Irish economy, published on Monday, SP said it was “concerned” that a “credible” strategy would not emerge until after the next general election.
Read more

S&P moves to clarify comments on state of Government - The Irish Times - Wed, Apr 01, 2009

As much as i loathe FF i completely agree that the agency has no business interfering with Irish politics

[myksav]

So S&P are doing the soft-shoe shuffle now.

One thing that struck me is that there has been 'screams of outrage' about various EU politicos "interfering" with our vote on the Lisbon Treaty, from both sides of that argument, yet much less 'outrage' about S&P "interfering" with Irish national politics.

[blacbloc]

Cowen's implication is more likely that the S&P chap hasn't assessed the alternatives ... a FG/Labour coalition would unlikely be to the S&P dude's satisfaction:

Eamon Gilmore: there should only be a €2.5 billion adjustment - is he credible ?

I actually found Cowen's quote rather laconic and amusing.

cYp

Well, when you're in the throes of an adolescent-like crush on all things Fianna Fail, that is only natural cyp, but it's no use. Bless you, you're putting up a valiant fight here for your amour. The rest of us, fortunately, aren't wearing rose tinted specs. We see the mangy old dog FF is - and so does Standard & Poor evidently.

[macdarawhitfield]

The corporate markets are close to illiquid, and sovereign markets are somewhat tepid

Risk assessment failed massively during this crash, simplistic models like CapM are out the window now, hopefully the efficient markets hypothesis is canned as well. New thinking is needed in this area.

We need to stop listening to buffoons like S & P : they are old guard failures.

cYp

When it comes to economics cyp,I am a blundering amateur, rather like the guys at S&P and PWC.But you obviously have some kind of system in mind to oversee the markets.How would that work -- in layman's terms?

[liamfoley]

Title says all I have to say.

[myksav]

I heard Mr Sweeny on PK this morning as well. Trying to lessen the effects of yesterdays debacle.
It didn't and a lot of people are wondering about the unions now.

[Dillinger]

Bring in the IMF, get them to shoot that mangy FF dog for once and for all.