Draw Breath

I’m not sure I agree with all that he has to say, but Michael Taft’s outline of an alternative to the government’s lunacy is certainly worth a read, if only to highlight that there are alternatives to the government’s lunacy.

I don’t have time to go through it at all today, but I suppose the one criticism I would have is that I’m not sure whether this would provide Ireland with the dig-out it needs. Specifically, while it may help alleviate the repercussions of the countries property orgy, Ireland alone can never attend to the major problem: the death of the wholesale banking market (and death it seems to be) will require either banks entirely reshaping their business models along the much more restricted Captain Mannering model, which will take a massive adjustment in the global economy or it will require states coming together to underpin the wholesale markets themselves.

Of course, the Irish government prefers free-riding to international cooperation so they will most likely not even be involved in any international action. And meanwhile, Irish banks are still likely to go to their predictable hell in an only partly self-made handbasket.