# Bertie: It Was all Lehman's Fault



## canicemcavoy (10 Sep 2010)

Article by Matt Cooper that includes references to an interview with Ahern:

http://www.irishexaminer.ie/opinion...ke-that-busted-property-developer-130355.html



> The reality is I left this country in a state where we had low national debt, where we had full employment, low taxes and I didn’t foresee Lehman’s coming down and the rules changing," he said in an interview with RTÉ’s John Murray. ​




Plenty of people including Cooper deride Bertie for this. But I'm wondering how many people out there still accept this version of events - that Ireland's economy was fine, the property bubble wasn't a bubble at all, Irish banks were fine, and that it was all the fault of external factors.​


----------



## Arabella (10 Sep 2010)

Possibly the same percentage that say Haughey/Ahearn were great men. I've heard it down the country where parish pump politics are more prevalent.


----------



## tiger (10 Sep 2010)

Yes, I think a combination of this thinking plus parish pump politics means FF will do alot "less worse" in the next election than might be thought.


----------



## tvman (10 Sep 2010)

Arabella said:


> Possibly the same percentage that say Haughey/Ahearn were great men. I've heard it down the country where parish pump politics are more prevalent.




I used to think that gombeenism and parish pump politics were a country thing as well until I remembered that the worst gombeens, Ahern, Haughey and Burke were all dubs...


----------



## marti18 (10 Sep 2010)

one sure thing is.......bertie seen it coming and got out in time before the S*** hit the fan.

good man bertie, you did a great job      NOT   collect your massive pension and get to keep the state mercedes and other perks......

YOUR A JOKE AND SO IS THIS GOVERNMENT


----------



## RMCF (10 Sep 2010)

To be fair he isn't saying anything that all the other politicians haven't said over the last 2 years.

Its all someone else's fault.


----------



## mercman (10 Sep 2010)

marti18 said:


> YOUR A JOKE AND SO IS THIS GOVERNMENT



Well on the basis of the the alternatives, maybe we just might as well put up with what we have got. There are no Policies, no decent plans or ideas -- just a heap of criticism been pushed around all over the place. 

As for  wasting money, they are at it. Why oh why doesn't somebody stand up and question Fine Gael as to why they have weekend charades of taking their members on Continental trips, all expenses paid for a mad drinking session. 

So if the opposition want to place all the balme on others, let them clean their own house first.


----------



## putsch (10 Sep 2010)

It makes my blood boil every time I hear either Brian or Bertie or any other shyster suggest that "Leemans" is to blame......................do they really think we are complete eejits?


----------



## jpd (10 Sep 2010)

putsch said:


> It makes my blood boil every time I hear either Brian or Bertie or any other shyster suggest that "Leemans" is to blame......................do they really think we are complete eejits?



I think the next election will prove that one way or another - hopefully we will get it right first time this time, as it's unlikely we'll be given a 2nd chance as per Nice/Lisbon


----------



## marti18 (10 Sep 2010)

jpd said:


> I think the next election will prove that one way or another - hopefully we will get it right first time this time, as it's unlikely we'll be given a 2nd chance as per Nice/Lisbon


 
it dosent matter who you vote for.......who can you trust in politics???

PEOPLE LISTEN......POLITICS IS CORRUPT IS THIS COUNTRY!


----------



## pudds (10 Sep 2010)

putsch said:


> It makes my blood boil every time I hear either Brian or Bertie or any other shyster suggest that "Leemans" is to blame......................*do they really think* *we are complete eejits*?




I'm sure they don't.....but look they've nothing else to sell us.....they know full well who's to blame....their cronies and themselves ....


not one person behind bars ffs and as a tabloid paper wrote today...

Ivor Calley for President...as he is the only (well not the only one by far I'm sure) that can *truly reflect* what kind of a nation we are now post Celtic Tiger.


----------



## PaddyBloggit (10 Sep 2010)

We get the Government we deserve .... baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Come the next election the sheep will line up to vote the same crowd in .... be they the current incumbents or the pretenders to the throne.

Electing people because their grandfathers fought in the Civil War or 'cos daddy has retired and I need to keep the dynasty going is no way to elect people who at the stoke of a pen can get our fair country into a black hole of debt.

No matter who's in the next time we're all going to suffer long term .... wages will be hit again, taxes will go up, new taxes will appear, utilities will rise, new utility bills will appear .... water, waste ... Gormley may be a distant memory after the next elction but some other Gormley will appear in his place.

I don't have faith in any party .... like mercman said .... nobody/no party has any idea what to do ... there is no plan to get us out of the hole we're in.

It's a reactive situation rather than a proactive one.

If people could see light at the end of the tunnel we'd grin and bear things knowing we'd eventually get through our problems but with the crowd leading us there's no light (and with the opposition as an alternative there'll be no light there either).


Back to OP's post  .... Lehman or no Lehman .... our country had a Government that should have been able to analyse/plan for the future .... but no ... they developed the same 'let's go mad, borrow, borrow, spend, spend, spend ..... paying back? .... ah sure we'll worry about that tomorrow mentality.

Tomorrow is here lads ..... and still ye have ye're heads in the sand.

Who'll make up the shortfall? Ah sure the 'Tax Payer' will ... there's only so much left in the Tax Payer's pocket ... keep dipping into it and ye'll kill the golden goose.

There'll be no more eggs!


----------



## TLC (11 Sep 2010)

putsch said:


> It makes my blood boil every time I hear either Brian or Bertie or any other shyster suggest that "Leemans" is to blame......................do they really think we are complete eejits?


 
Yes they do & yes we are.  The response from citizens (me included) - except for the pensioners victory - has been abysmal.  There has been no accountability for the people who got us in this mess, the government and individual bankers.  We listended to Bertie say he won the money on the horses - the same excuse as John Gilligan I might add - and we are allowing the government to do nothing about unemployment.  Just one case in point, people who were doing apprenticeships through FAS, being made redundant and therefore losing any chance of completing their courses and becoming qualified.  Surely instead of giving them dole money the government could encourage employers to take them on and at least let them finish out their courses.  At least it would give these people some hopefor the future.


----------



## Mixednuts (15 Sep 2010)

Yes the Government of the time have a lot to answer for (weak regulations , no contingency plans for obvious crash )  but we all have a small slice of the "shoite cake" to swallow .

The big credit wave came into town and we all took out our surf boards .

Wave is gone and we are all stranded on the beach .


----------



## Ceist Beag (15 Sep 2010)

Mixednuts said:


> The big credit wave came into town and we all took out our surf boards .
> 
> Wave is gone and we are all stranded on the beach .



Or rather some took out big eff off yachts, some took out surf boards and some kept the little floaters that were already on there arms! But yes you're right in that we are all stranded on the beach after the wave has gone!


----------



## PaddyW (15 Sep 2010)

Ireland is screwed. We have incompetent politicians who would fight over what biscuits to have with their tea. "I want mikado's Cowen".. "No Kenny, it has to be the jammy dodgers".. Jammy dodgers being exactly what they are as they ride off into the sunset with their unvouched expenses tucked in their back pockets.


----------



## canicemcavoy (15 Sep 2010)

Mixednuts said:


> The big credit wave came into town and we all took out our surf boards .


 
Not me; I have absolutely no debt and I'm sitting on a large deposit because I refused to listen to the shills, the hacks, the vested interests, those who tried to silence dissenting voices as sensationalists, and bided my time. I don't own a car, I cycle most places, when I shop I research for the cheapest place to buy, and I don't have any prolifigate hobbies apart from good armagnac and PC games. And I have never once voted for Fianna Fail.

Sorry, but I absolutely categorically refuse to be brow-beaten into this "everyone's to blame" bull****.


----------



## Howitzer (15 Sep 2010)

+1.


----------



## suemoo1 (15 Sep 2010)

Sorry, but I absolutely categorically refuse to be brow-beaten into this "everyone's to blame" bull****.[/QUOTE]


+1.. me too.. and ive never voted for FF either


----------



## AlbacoreA (15 Sep 2010)

+1 

Not everyone is to blame. Its only certain people.


----------



## Ceist Beag (15 Sep 2010)

Folks I think you're all missing the point. It's no longer about who is to blame - we're all now in the mire together, whether we contributed to it or not. Unless of course you can up roots and leave!


----------



## AlbacoreA (15 Sep 2010)

Well the Govt has made it everyones problem now. Thats doesn't mean the people responsible shouldn't be punished severely. Thats what stops others from doing it again in the future.


----------



## canicemcavoy (15 Sep 2010)

Ceist Beag said:


> Unless of course you can up roots and leave!


 
With a slurring Taoiseach and a Minister for Science who launches creationist tracts, the day gets ever nearer.


----------

