Brought to our knees by bankers and developers

[Fr. Hank Tree]

Another superb piece by Morgan Kelly in today's Times; hits the nail well and truly on the head.

Underlying Nama is the delusion that the collapse of our property bubble is a temporary downturn. In a few years time when the global economy recovers we will be back building houses like it was 2006. All the ghost estates, empty office blocks, guest-less hotels and weed choked fields that Nama has bought on our behalf will once again be worth a fortune.

The reality is that, because of our surfeit of empty housing, there will be almost no construction activity for the next decade. Empty apartment blocks in Dublin will eventually be rented, albeit at rates so low that many will decay into slums. However, most of the unfinished estates that litter rural Ireland – where the only economic activity was building houses – will never be occupied.

...

Instead of recognising bankers and developers as parasites on our national prosperity, the Government came to see them as its source. While everyone else in Ireland has come to see the past decade as an embarrassing episode of collective insanity to be put behind us as soon as possible, the Government still sees it as the high point of our nation’s history. Nama is effectively Fianna Fáil’s shrine to the bubble, and likely to be an expensive and enduring one.

Brought to our knees by bankers and developers - The Irish Times - Fri, Jul 03, 2009

[Fr. Hank Tree]

Oh and he also makes the very important point that telling the subordinated debt holders to eff off* would actual improve our situation as oppose to exacerbating it. Why? Because these investors are big boys and knew the risks they were taking when they bought the bonds. We are under no obligation to pay them back, and for that reason leaving them high and dry would actually make us more attrative as a nation (not to mention lifting a completley unnecessary burden off of the Irish taxpayer's back).

*allow them to absorb the bad debts

[OceanFrog]

Excellent article.

I have nothing but the highest respect for Morgan Kelly.

[Pauli]

It is a bleak but accurate assessment. Vision is required to tackle this problem but one look at this God-awful Cabinet would convince one that, with the possible exception of Lenihan, vision is totally absent. In fact, I doubt if the majority of them understand the scope of the problem since most of them are, without putting too fine a point on it, unemployable.

[DS-09]

It is a bleak but accurate assessment. Vision is required to tackle this problem but one look at this God-awful Cabinet would convince one that, with the possible exception of Lenihan, vision is totally absent. In fact, I doubt if the majority of them understand the scope of the problem since most of them are, without putting too fine a point on it, unemployable.

What would your vision of Ireland's potential be Pauli?

[absconded]

Could we possibly release some of the smalltime crooks and unfortunate one time offenders from jail to make space for some of these gombeens that are robbing the country of billions.

[DS-09]

Could we possibly release some of the smalltime crooks and unfortunate one time offenders from jail to make space for some of these gombeens that are robbing the country of billions.

The FG ones included?

[absconded]

The FG ones included?

I know you like trolling, but you should leave party politics out of it with an avatar like the one you have. Happy Friday!

[DS-09]

I know you like trolling, but you should leave party politics out of it with an avatar like the one you have. Happy Friday!

Trolling- or asking you a simple question? Should the FG gombeens be put in prison as well. Or are they simply an FF-related phenonomum?

[DCon]

Trolling- or asking you a simple question? Should the FG gombeens be put in prison as well. Or are they simply an FF-related phenonomum?

Anyone who engaged in corruption of public office should be in jail and never allowed run for office again, regardless of their political affiliation.

I wish people on this site would stop supporting political parties as if they are football teams.