Nationalising Anglo Irish Bank

Meanwhile as regards the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank (rumour of which arrived here early yesterday evening). Got to say that this was a tragedy foretold. Yet again the government is forced kicking and screaming to adopt precisely the same approach as other governments internationally, and yet once more we have this weirdly mean-minded right of centre inability to think beyond the nostrums apparently laid down by the Progressive Democrats.

There is more than a little truth to the charges that this is a further demonstration of the palpable incompetence of our current rulers. For some months we’ve heard how the financial sector is sound, buoyed up by various arms length (but very real) financial interventions. Now we know. And the truth is that either the government knew this but chose not to act late last year, or worse didn’t know until recently. As Joan Burton of the Labour Party noted last night:

…an unknown quantity of bad debt, running to billions of euro, had now effectively been taken on by the exchequer.

“From the very outset, the Government’s approach has been based on avoiding the full nationalisation of Anglo, and it went to extraordinary lengths to that end,” said Burton.

“Only a few weeks ago, the Government was prepared to pour €1.5 billion of taxpayer’s money into Anglo – a bank which now it says cannot be funded.

“The sheer incompetence is breathtaking. The damage to the exchequer unknown,” she added.

So our nationalisation, inevitable as it was, is another example of what could best be described as a corporate “socialism” where funds are disbursed apparently without limit to the financial and commercial sectors, but across the rest of the society are held back. The Seán FitzPatricks of the world walk away while we pay. And pay. And pay. With our services cut, our wages cut, our futures put on the line. And this pattern seems set to continue.

What a state we’re in. No vision, no genuine sense of compassion. Nothing but their self-defined bottom line.