The deepening crisis of the Irish economy

national | anti-capitalism | other press Thursday May 14, 2009 19:00 by Socialism or Barbarism socialismorb at gmail dot com

Article reviewing impact of bank bailout from a marxist perspective.

In this latest post on the Irish economic crisis, Socialism or Barbarism analyses the extent of the impact of the bank bailout and the recession in the real economy and what it will likely mean for the working class.

The Bailout

All the mainstream political parties agreed on the necessity of the bank bail-out package - some wholeheartedly some by using the Thatcherite injunction 'TINA: There Is No Alternative'. In making this decision, the Irish political class collectively signed the Irish taxpayer to cover liabilities of value approximately €440bn (figure supplied by the Financial Times, January 17 2009). This decision represented the greatest transfer of wealth from the working class and petty-bourgeoisie to the nexus of super-wealthy property tycoons and their political friends since the inception of the state itself in 1923.

It remains to be seen whether a run on the banks will expose the full extent of the government's bluff but, irrespective, the losses which the Government have signed up to covering continue to rise. Initially in December 2008 the bailout was quantified at €10bn then, according to Standard and Poors Rating agency it was €20bn in March 2009, then the IMF estimated the exposure to be €24bn in May 2009. In truth, no-one can be sure just how much this is going to cost. Given the scale of the collapse in housing market and the overall value of the sector, it would seem likely that these figures represent gross underestimates of liability.

full at: http://revolutionaryireland.blogspot.com/2009/05/deepen....html