Unemployment in Europe

I was playing around with the excellent Google Public Data Explorer, which graphs data from Eurostat:

Unemployment in Greece and Spain is up to 25%. In Ireland unemployment has reached 15%, the same as during the 1980s, and just like then it is been held in check by emigration. I guess Greeks and Spaniards aren't emigrating, the Greeks I can understand, no one speaks Greece, but the Spanish have the white countries of Latin America to move to. For comparison, 25% is about the unemployment rate in Germany and the USA during the Great Depression. Not good stuff, don't be surprised if we see major upsets in the future in those two countries. At the very least faith in the European project and the bona fides of Greater Germany as a force for good has been destroyed.

New Bailout Drama in Ireland

THE DÁIL is to sit late tonight to deal with emergency legislation to liquidate the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation – transferring its assets to the National Asset Management Agency.

The government’s chief whip Paul Kehoe told TheJournal.ie that the Dáil would convene at “10 or 10:30pm” to debate the legislation, which forms part of moves to conclude a deal with the European Central Bank that would replace IBRC’s promissory notes with long-term government bonds.

TDs voted this evening to extend the working today, reconvening at 10:30pm with a vote on the legislation – the IBRC Resolution Bill 2013 – at around 12:40am.

The Seanad will then debate the legislation overnight, with President Higgins interrupting a trip to Italy to be available to sign any legislation.

Staff at IBRC were told this evening that the bank would be going into liquidation under the control of KPMG, while its chairman Alan Dukes said the board had been stood down with figures from KPMG now in direct control of the institution.

http://www.thejournal.ie/ibrc-emergency-legislation-dail-785250-Feb2013/


Our treasonous government is hard at work tonight, turning "promissory notes" we cannot pay into sovereign debt we cannot pay. This can only lead to the sovereign default of this country.

I can't say anything. There isn't really much you can do when your country is led by men determined to do the bidding of someone else. This is good for the banks, good for the insiders, and bad for the ordinary people, just like everything our politicians have done.

As we can make out, what's happening is that Anglo/IBRC is being merged with NAMA (there is nothing in IBRC to "liquidate", although KPMG will be sure enrich themselves on fees anyway), that part of the bailout debt formerly covered by "promissory notes" payable to the Irish Central Bank will now be Sovereign Debt owed directly to the ECB, and the Minister for Finance is getting some sort of legal power to arbitrate ownership of leveraged assets and debt.
All of which is good from the perspective of continuing the bailout, but bad from the perspective of getting Ireland back as a legitimate, solvent country again. You need to remember, the current government was elected on a pro-free market, anti-bailout platform in 2011. The turned around on that issue, and it was clear to us all that they had betrayed their voters within the first month of their gaining power.

Its weird how people laughed at me when I said in 2009 that Ireland would default. The point at which Ireland's debt became unpayable was shortly before the IMF bailout in late 2010.

It won't be so bad, going through European style sovereign default, just look to Greece for how things go. It looks like the plan is now to make Ireland Greek. At least most people get fed, most medical services run most of the time. At least its much better than the Latin American style default, like Argentina in 2001.