Ireland Agrees To IMF, EU, U.S. Taxpayer Bailout - Bank Bondholders Don't Lose A Dime
U.S. taxpayers finance approximately 20% of the IMF's budget, so this is now the 2nd European member state to require your assistance to survive. Greece and Ireland now bailed out, the bond market's focus will turn to the next 2 weakest links - Spain and Portugal.
Details inside.
---
Scroll down for VIDEO...
---
DUBLIN – Ireland on Sunday became the second European nation to ask for a multibillion euro rescue loan to help stabilize its debt-ridden banks and Europe's finance ministers scrambled to talk about ways to relieve the country's debt crisis.
Other eurozone countries and the European Central Bank had pushed Dublin to accept help after anxiety over Ireland's massive bank-bailout bill threatened to spill over to the currency area's other shaky economies, including Portugal and Spain.
The request for help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund is a humiliating turnaround for the Irish government, which only days ago had denied that such a package was being negotiated or was even necessary.
It also dashes the hopes of other members of the 16-country currency union that the mere existence of a euro750 billion ($1025.55 billion) financial backstop set up in May would suffice to quell concern over several nations' massive debt levels.
Ireland's Finance Minister Brian Lenihan refused to give a precise figure on the fund, saying only that it would reach tens of billions of euros. He denied the figure would top euro100 billion ($136.7 billion), as some had speculated.
"I will be recommending to the government that we should apply for this program," a somber Lenihan told Irish state broadcaster RTE. The Irish cabinet is expected to sign off on the request later Sunday.
Experts from the EU, the ECB and the IMF in recent days have been digging through the books of Ireland's biggest banks to find out whether the government would have to pump in more than the euro50 billion it has already budgeted for the bailout.
Ireland is running a deficit of euro19 billion ($26 billion), which Lenihan said could not be financed at current market rates. Lenihan said the money would help Ireland pay its bills and provide a contingency fund to back up the banks, which have been hemorrhaging cash since the country's real estate boom crashed in 2008.
The interest rate on Ireland's 10-year bonds surged to above 8 percent in recent weeks, after the government again had to revise up the final cost of the bank bailout and economists raised doubts that the Irish economy could grow fast enough to pay off the debt.
"Clearly we want to borrow for much less than that," Lenihan said Sunday.
Although the government has insisted that it has enough cash on hand until the middle of 2011, analysts are concerned that the discovery of further holes in the banks' balance sheet could suddenly drive up costs.
Market jitters had also begun to spread, raising borrowing costs for Ireland and Spain and weighing on the value of the euro.
After the Irish cabinet has approved the loan application, Irish, EU and IMF officials will negotiate the details of the bailout. The first portion of the loan might come from the European Commission, the EU's executive; after that the IMF and a facility funded by eurozone nations would raise money in the international debt markets. The European Commission declined to comment on Ireland's request Sunday. The European Financial Stability Facility wasn't immediately available for comment.
The Irish rescue is the latest act in Europe's yearlong drama to prevent mounting debts and deficits from overwhelming the weakest members of the 16-nation eurozone. Greece was saved from bankruptcy in May, and analysts say Portugal, which some argue has done less than the Irish to bring debt and deficits back under control, could be next.
Reflecting the national mood, the Sunday Independent newspaper displayed the photos of Ireland's 15 Cabinet ministers on its front page, expressed hope that the IMF would order the Irish political class to take huge cuts in positions, pay and benefits — and called for Fianna Fail's destruction at the next election.
"Slaughter them after Christmas," the Sunday Independent's lead editorial urged.
---
Clarke & Dawe on the European debt-guarantee circle jerk...
Brilliant satire. If you haven't seen this yet, buckle up.
---
Jimmy Rogers explains how the situation should have been handled...
More detail on this clip is here:
Even better, Rogers never mucks around with airtime. This is a solid 2 minutes of pain for bank-bullshitting fear mongers on both sides of the Pond.
---
Related stories:
Nov 21, 2010 at 11:15 PM
Reader Comments (12)
a few interesting pics of irish politicians...
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/1122/1224283834841.html
now it's official...
http://cxalex.com/2010/11/19/the-imf-wants-your-money/
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/why-pimcos-purchase-another-30-billion-mbs-most-it-margin-may-be-very-bad-news-bank-america-
"Feeble Irish protests fail to measure up to a Greek tragedy"
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/1122/1224283834822.html
"But just now I don't care about sovereignty and I don't want to hear about dead patriots and how they might feel. I care about the actual problems which many of my compatriots are facing – losing their houses, their jobs, their dignity as citizens – and believe that the task of the Irish government is to defend the rights of those who are suffering as best they can rather than consider the fact that they have betrayed the memory of the patriot dead."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/20/colm-toibin-imf-in-dublin
"Looking at Ireland, I don't know whether to laugh or cry"
by Colm Tóibín
No mention of bondholders in this entire load of it. The bondholders ARE the "actual problem," Colm Tóibín , you twit.
http://www.wsm.ie/c/welcome-imf-ireland-protest-song
Céad míle fáilte - To the IMF
We hope we meet you on the streets - To fight you to the death.
And we know how you got here - Back room deal and open arms
As you try to suck the life from us - With your structural reforms
They just lit a fuse - It's time for us to choose (x2)
You must think we're fucking stupid - Feed our fears with blocks of cheese
It'll take more than dairy products - To keep us on our knees
can you translate this for me pitchfork...
Standard Irish-language greeting (sort of old fashioned). It's also written on everything from doormats to tea towels. Bord Failte, the Irish Tourist Board uses it a lot.
They will say Ameri who?
Or the money will "dissapear" in red tape, or be declined as it was with Katrina aid.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801113.html?hpid=topnews
The bankers will probably want to administer the bailout, since they are already good at "handling money".