Has the government succeeded in shifting blame to the bankers?

[He3]

To survive, the government knows it has to deflect blame to the bankers.

The excellent Kathy Sheridan writes about a silence across the country in the wake of the Budget. She describes people not knowing who to blame ending up blaming each other. The arguments on P.ie which pitch public sector against private sector reflect that phenomenon IMO.

Governments are brilliant at deflecting blame and quite happy to stoke resentments between sectors of society to minimise public attention on how badly those we pay fabulously well to guide us wisely have done that job. The way Brian Lenihan repeatedly blames Anglo for the 'reputational damage' that Ireland has suffered is part of a strategy of laying off the government's responsibility to the bad bankers. The hapless sacked 'Bank Regulator' is another receptacle for governmental blame.

Has the government succeeded in shifting the blame to the bankers sufficiently to save itself from political annihilation?


THE GARDA and the Army have been refreshing their riot-control skills in recent times. Clearly, the fear is that the Irish might emulate their French and Greek counterparts and stage a peasants’ revolt. But even Opposition party members are taken aback by the “rather eerie silence” around the constituencies in the wake of the emergency Budget

Will your lifestyle survive?

[revereie]

In as much Brown has in the UK, Merkel with Hypo in Germany and Obama in the States. There is of course significant monumental blame closer to home - the 'structural deficit' is home-made.

[Christine Murray]

l don't imagine so in the least, mismanagement of funds in health for example , were being criticised before the banking scandals and are now a matter of public record despite media inattention (specifically The Irish Times – Irish News, Business News, Sports News & Ireland Weather Online).

[cyberianpan]

To survive, the government knows it has to deflect blame to the bankers.

Governments are brilliant at deflecting blame and ... The hapless sacked 'Bank Regulator' is another receptacle for governmental blame.

Actually I think the Financial Regulator does deserve much of the blame. As I've posted previously they simply weren't up to the job. Now those of a "civil service" mentality on this site will say that the Regulator was following its terms of reference from their political masters - I'll say that this was incompetence & cowardice on their part.

The rest of society relied on having the FR to police the banks, they thought things were safe as there was hundreds of staff on the job. Having no regulator would have been better as people wouldn't have been lulled into a false sense of security.

So some blame does need to be shared around.

cYp

[atlantic]

The Government would never blame anyone for their mistakes.It was those nasty banksters that did it ,the very banks they were regulating.It was us foolish people who listen to them banging on and creating manic buying ,buy now before it gets to expensive,bricks and mortar is a marvelous investment that never goes down in value.While Morgan Kelly ,Alan Aherne,David Mc and others warned them they were going down the wrong road,and gave them numerous examples of countries that it had occurred in ,and the fallout cost.
It was joe public that overspent the government budget because we lived beyond our means,and we also created benchmarking and other unsustainable vote buying schemes to get FF back into power.
We were very bold .

[Christine Murray]

and who advises government that 2-3 years of bad planning and fiscal wasteage is occurring in a dept that has blatantly undermined health infrastructure and that garners 1/4 of the annual budget? of course the fr is responsible for external conditions; but governmental management and spend should also be subject to scrutiny .

[He3]

TA has a thread coming at this from a similar angle, focussing on some remarks by Bertie Ahern.

Dot, cYp, you make good points. The health budget mess cries out to Heaven. Today's Examiner leads with just the latest fiasco - how the HSE walked blindly into lawsuits that will cost it a fortune. The Financial Regulator was a disgrace too. But the ultimate responsibility in our very small country rests with the government, who governed, and continue to govern, for their friends.

First, last and always.

Will they get away with bankrupting the country?

[He3]

A TD called Carey in doing this right now on RTÉ, patronising us as he praises Bacon for saying we must break the crony capitalism link between banks and developers. Like Hello?

Where was our government through all this? Having its picture taken?


Joan Burton and young Sherlock from SIPTU are taking him apart, but its water off a duck's back to a man who thinks he and his are out the gap.

[Christine Murray]

A TD called Carey in doing this right now on RTÉ, patronising us as he praises Bacon for saying we must break the crony capitalism link between banks and developers. Like Hello?

Where was our government through all this? Having its picture taken?


Joan Burton and young Sherlock from SIPTU are taking him apart, but its water off a duck's back to a man who thinks he and his are out the gap.

I have to admit that the whole situation of media in this country has been absolutely fcking appalling,
I say this as one who has been invited to numerous Press and media junkets (in one form or another,
generally environment/women's issues)

The whole pack of journos goes meets the celebs and managers, gets a media package prints it up
and fcks off home without asking the difficult questions.

I did (once) and when I left the media room at DOE, I was followed out by an advisor who demanded
my email so that the minister could contact me again re issues raised. (he never did, I was unsurprised)

There are numerous (well 3) reports on Health spending sitting on shelfs at Finance,
not one journo has asked about the 1/4 annual budget, the committee reports,
the advisors at dohc.

[mollox]

To survive, the government knows it has to deflect blame to the bankers.

Has the government succeeded in shifting the blame to the bankers sufficiently to save itself from political annihilation?

Blaming it all on the bankers is not just official Govt policy, as actively promulgated by FF & the Greens at every opportunity, it also seems to be the official policy of the opposition.

You can understand the Govt position - they naturally want to deflect as much criticism as possible for the hole in the public finances onto the banks - otherwise it would all end up at their own door.

What's harder to understand is the opposition's willingness to go along with the charade, there's so much political ammunition in annual Budgets and Finance Bills stretching back for over a decade.

The only conclusion I can reach is that FG & Labour cannot deny their own proposals for concessions for First Time buyers and various stamp duty changes to provide further stimulus to an already over-heated housing market.

The banks are certainly one of the main culprits in the property bubble and are paying a considerable price for their folly - at least their shareholders are.

But the succession of FF-led Govts making long-term expenditure commitments based purely on receipt of a temporary property-related tax bonanza smacks of gross fiscal incompetence.

No party ever lost votes attacking banks, imposing bank levies etc. - but FG & Labour should concentrate their fire on those who were actually charged with responsibility for taking care of "the national interest". They're the ones who created the black hole in the public finances, not the banks.