The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Irish Eyes Aren’t Smiling

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | 5 Comments

If this doesn’t worry you, it should:

European shares were expected to fall for a third straight day on Friday, tracking losses in Asia and on Wall Street, with worries about Ireland’s debt levels and weak commodity prices seen putting pressure on equities. . . .
“As for Europe, the deteriorating state of the Irish economy has scope to further erode sentiment approaching the weekend break,” said Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets. . . .
The 10-year Irish government bond yield has rocketed to 9 percent, from as low as 4.4 percent earlier this year, making it the second highest-yielding euro zone bond after Greece’s 11.7 percent. The bid/ask spread for Irish debt has also blown out, suggesting the market is freezing up.

Uh, the market for Irish bonds “freezing up”? On the eve of the Fed’s “QE2” monetizing of the debt? Let me remind you of something I wrote in March 2009:

We are looking at an ill-designed house of cards on top of a Ponzi scheme erected over the San Andreas Fault. The question is not whether disaster will result, but when.
When that disaster finally hits — when capital freaks the hell out and the bond market goes sideways — the lone sanctuary of sanity and calm will be Galt’s Gulch.

It’s not too late to take Glenn Beck’s advice and buy gold. But then again, ammunition, Coleman lantern fuel and freeze-dried food might not be bad investments, either.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Instapundit links to an economics professor who wants to see banks shut down and their executives perp-walked:

Finally, maintaining the dollar’s international appeal also requires imposition of the rule of law in the US. Currently, the fraud perpetrated by the biggest banks is far worse than anything the Russian kleptocrats and mafia combined could possibly imagine. The US is in the grips of the worst scandals in world history, with the financial sector no longer constrained by anything that would be recognizable as lawful practice. And that is the biggest threat to the dollar as international reserve currency. Unless the top banks are closed, with their management jailed, there really is no hope for the US dollar or for its economy. 

“Jailed”? Hell, why stop there? Public floggings! Firing squads! Feed them to wolves!

BTW, you gotta love the headline on Professor Wray’s Nov. 4 column:

Right Now, A Complete Collapse
Of The Financial System
Is Not Out Of The Question

Excuse me, got to go buy some more freeze-dried food and ammo. Gonna need lots of ammo.

Category: Economics, Ireland

Comments

5 Responses to “Irish Eyes Aren’t Smiling”

  1. JeffS
    November 12th, 2010 @ 3:03 pm

    Oof. Just finished reading that Business Insider article. Not good.