A cement truck with the words Toxic Bank Anglo emblazoned onto the barrel has landed a civilian in court this week, however, the lads in charge of Anglo Irish are at home sipping tea.
The costs to the taxpayer of the Anglo bail out has been announced and because it is so enormous, it is hard for the average Joe to digest it and take it seriously.
Brian Cowen was not too far off the figure when he guessed at €30billion on Wednesday when discussions began after the Dail summer recess.
The actual figure arrived at is €29billion, but, we are warned that this could escalate to €34billion if things get really bad...
So what can we expect following this announcement. A big bad budget from hell for one. Brian Lenihan has already mentioned that the €3billion in cuts that were required will now increase and so further cuts can be expected. Who is going to suffer for the government’s decision to continue with the bailout of the banks? We are!
We have heard several economists offer alternative solutions to the bail out but nobody in authority appears to be listening. We as taxpayers will be paying back these loans for more than 30 years, which means that our children and grandchildren are paying for a Celtic tiger that they never even experienced.
It seems like a bad decision but who are we to point this out. I don’t claim to be an economist or know any more about the banks crisis than the average person but the bottom line is that it doesn’t seem fair.
A new and novel festival is hitting Kilkenny in November which might help us with figuring out why some of these seemingly bizarre decisions were made. Kilkenomics is being organised by comedy festival founder Richard Cooke and celebrity economist David McWilliams. It pledges to bring economics down to lay mans terms and with a selection of top class comedians on hand to MC discussions, it promises to add a little fun to the serious topics that will be debated. This will be a four-day event and will take place in venues around the city. Watch this space for more details.
Until then we had just better get on with it. Enjoy what you have in your pocket until budget day because there will probably be decidedly less the following day!
One wonders will this government last the full term — if not who is prepared to take over? Who really wants to lead Ireland out of recession? Fine Gael is polling at as low a rate as Fianna Fail, Labour are doing unnaturally well, but will this turn into votes on polling day — I wonder? There is something to be said for the idea of a national government where all parties come together and try and come up with a solution that will pull us out of the mire. There are bright people in each of the parties and if they came together maybe something positive could come of it. However, we can but dream as this will probably never be a reality.
This time next year we will still be suffering the same fate because of uninformed decisions taken by those in power who were not careful enough to consider the consequences of their actions.
Let’s hope Kilkenomics will help us laugh a little at this big joke, — there’s not been even a smile to date.
