How the irish bailout works

[lutonlagerlout]

It is a slow day in a damp little Irish town. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub. The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note. The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works.

:;): LLL

[ilovesettsonmondays]

haha v good indeed.

[Hawk]

brilliant !

[GB_Groundworks]

stolen that for facebook haha

[lutonlagerlout]

i was emailed it by an american mate
its all about confidence
LLL

[rab1]

i liked that and its basically true.

still dont see the reason for the uk to help bail out any country that uses the euro.

[Pablo]

Unfortunately our Government had no choice Rab The Irish buy all their goods to re-sell almost exclusively from Britain and it's worth hundreds of billions annually to our economy. The eurozone wanted clauses to make Ireland use more euro produce thus cutting our trade with them virtually overnight which would put our economy in freefall. Also if the euro devalues to much then the Irish will get a better deal buying off other Euro states. It's a question of damage limitation and when you offset 8billion which we'll get back with interest against losing a huge part of our GDP and a possible economic meltdown the government actually made a good call. It does smart to pay for their hangover though did you know Ireland had more private helicopters perhead of population than anywhere else in the world.

[rab1]

pablo, i know the reasons why we have had to help but the loan "gift" given is the total amount of saving due to cut backs in the uk.
Ireland fair enough but I think we should draw a line in the sand when Spain and Portugal both go. Read somewhere that Germany has been printing Deutschmarks again as their now getting sick of bailing others out.

[lutonlagerlout]

i heard our banks our owed summat like 100billion by the irish
if they go bust so do we

LLL

[Tony McC]

As much as both countries like to think they are discrete and independent nations, we are actually incredibly co-dependent, a fact which causes much (justified) pain to rabid republicans in Ireland and right-wingers in Britain. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, so we either swim together, or sink together.

I like to think of it as Britain giving Ireland a sub. It ensures that a valuable 'colleague' is able to keep turning up for work until their next pay-packet comes in.

[London Stone Paving]

nice rationalisation

[DNgroundworks]

Is the hotelier not our of pocket there as he took payment off the prostitute for a debt she owed him but he had to put the note back on the counter and not in his till, do hes lost 100 euros, hasnt he?

If this is the case surely if we lend ireland say £1000000 then we will be out of pocket by £1000000?

[DNgroundworks]

or did he break even as he cleared his own debt to the butcher of 100 eruos hmm im confused :p

[lutonlagerlout]

what it is saying is that although no one has got any richer there is a bit of money floating around
3 years ago i would be spending around 2k on xmas prezzies,this year with 1 eye on the economy i will probably spend £5-600
people are not spending and that has a massive knock on effect for all of us

and as for britain and ireland,effectively we are one and the same place,we share almost similar culture,language , the works
property booms seem to be the root of all this and i remember after the last recession people saying never again
but i guarantee this that in 5 years, it will be same old same old
house prices rocketing
cheers LLL

[Suggers]

I've been thinking of taking a gamble on the Irish economy - is it worth a punt?

- courtesy of a Mr. Kenneth Atkins, gaurdian letters page yesterday.