John Bruton: Germany “‘very unfairly treated” . Nobody forced Ireland to borrow.

[YesSireeeBob]

But we are being force to pay it back - did every single taxpayer borrow the money?

Shouldn't Bruton be more concerned about the Irish than the Germans?

I think the Germans can handle themselves well enough without help from Bruton.



Germany Unfairly Treated in Crisis, Ex-Irish Leader Bruton Says - Bloomberg

“It’s easy to start scapegoating, it’s easy to start resurrecting historical stereotypes to avoid facing one’s own responsibilities,” Bruton said in an interview in Frankfurt yesterday.


“We in Ireland did a lot of that including in the first half of the 20th century where we tended to blame the past record with the British for every problem we had.”


“You could argue that the people who lent the money to them have a responsibility, and they do, but nobody forced Greece to borrow the money, nobody forced Ireland to borrow the money or banks or Irish households to borrow the money,” Bruton said. “One must first face up to one’s own responsibilities.”


Bruton said the fiscal compact drawn up to speed sanctions on high-deficit euro-area states and make members anchor balanced-budget rules in national law would gain more credibility if the

European Union president was directly elected by voters.


“It will build the sort of emotional cement through Europe that it needs to have,” Bruton said.

[P Ryan]

meh, typical from such a fatheaded eurotron with his snout deep in the trough of taxpayers money.

[Toland]

Bruton, much as it pains me to say it, has a point.

If Merkel had been capable of shutting some of her more jingoistic right-wingers (Schauble) up, and if Germany had not been the country to insist on including Greece in the Euro, I'd have to agree with Bruton entirely.

As it is, I'll limit myself to the modest view that Bruton has a point.

[Des Quirell]

Bruton, much as it pains me to say it, has a point.

If Merkel had been capable of shutting some of her more jingoistic right-wingers (Schauble) up, and if Germany had not been the country to insist on including Greece in the Euro, I'd have to agree with Bruton entirely.

As it is, I'll limit myself to the modest view that Bruton has a point.

Well said.

[Norman Bates]

Yesterday must've been the second happiest day in his life.

[LamportsEdge]

Bruton positioning himself as the being among the first to welcome Ireland's new overlords. Nothing more cringeworthy than watching an Irish politician presenting himself to a foreign authority as a useful rentboy for their interests. Could become quite schizophrenic in Bruton's case trying to balance two possible loyalties- one to the UK and another to Germany.

If aliens landed Bruton would the type to be among the first to offer assistance with the invasion in return for a clerkship at the Extraction Camps.

[ruamruam]

Nobody forced the German banks to lend the money to Irish banks. Doesn't mean we should have to pay back private debt

[Grumpy Jack]

Nobody force the German banks to lend the money to Irish banks. Doesn't mean we should have to pay back private debt

The German banks didn't - the majority of the money lent into Irish banks came from UK and US institutions.

The Germans didn't force Bertie Ahern, Charlie McCreevy and Brian Cowen to encourage property speculation through property tax breaks and run the Irish economy based on windfall taxes from a property bubble while slashing taxes and raising welfare, wages and pensions to buy votes.

The Germans did not force the governments of those three stooges to sit back and let the banks run mad - throwing money at people like it was free sweets at a carnival.

And when it all went t1ts up, the Germans certainly didn't force the Irish government of Cowen and Lenihan to guarantee ALL the liabilities of the six Irish-owned banks, including Anglo - which has left us with the bill.

Bruton is right - no one forced the Irish people and Irish banks to borrow like there was no tomorrow on the back of the utterly reckless fiscal policies of the Irish governments of 1997 to 2011.

The sooner the Irish people accept responsibility for their own actions and those of the three FF-led governments they elected, then the sooner we can get on with fixing the mess that was 100% 'Made in Ireland' and 'Guaranteed Irish' - instead of whingeing about it and blaming the Germans.

[LamportsEdge]

Funny how these little almost biblical proverbs emerge about 'nobody forcing the Irish to borrow' but only after the junction on the motorway which contains the proverb 'caveat emptor' for international lenders. No-one wants to know, apparently, about the risk attached to lending.

And these would be the same people, if Ireland ten years ago had decided to follow a pollicy of reducing borrowings and moving towards a policy of balanced books who would have been snorting down their nose at the craziness of not using 'cheap money' from the markets.

It seems it is now almost a religious article of faith among the financial experts of Ireland that bondholders must not lose their money- 'caveat emptor' is dead for them and with O'Leary in the grave.

[ibis]

Nobody force the German banks to lend the money to Irish banks. Doesn't mean we should have to pay back private debt

Nobody forced the Irish government to take on the debt of the banks, though. And I don't suppose you actually have any evidence of heavy German bank lending to the bailed-out Irish banks, by the way? I always ask, but nobody ever turns out to.