# European Austerity Measures - How Not to Do It



## onq (23 Dec 2010)

I am not convinced by the current round of austerity measures.

Seems like others aren't either.

From:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-brown/austerity-fails-in-eurola_b_800227.html

_"Unlike the Greeks, who were considered profligate spendthrifts, the  Irish did everything their creditors asked.  The people sacrificed to  pay for the excesses of their banks, but still the effort failed.   Ireland was the second domino to fall to an IMF/EU bailout.  On December  17, Moody's Investors Service rewarded  it for voting to accept the "rescue" package with a five-notch credit  downgrade, from AA2 to BAA1, with warnings that further downgrades could  follow.  "_

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It seems like Merkel and her cohorts, so jealous of Ireland's former success, are putting the boot in while we're down to structurally weaken out economy to make sure they can get ahead and stay ahead in this recession.
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_"Only one U.S. state actually owns its own bank - North Dakota.  As of  last spring, North Dakota was also the only U.S. state sporting a budget surplus.   It has the lowest unemployment rate in the country and the lowest  default rate on loans.  North Dakota has effectively escaped the credit  crisis.  _ _The Bank of North Dakota (BND) is a major profit generator for the  state, returning a 26% dividend in 2008.  The BND was set up as "North  Dakota doing business as the Bank of North Dakota," making the assets of  the state the assets of the bank.  The BND also has a captive deposit  base.  By law, all of North Dakota's revenues are deposited in the BND.   Municipal government and private deposits are also taken.  Today, the  BND has $4,000 in deposits per capita, and outstanding loans of roughly  the same amount.  _
_Extrapolating those figures to Ireland's population of 4.2 million, a  publicly-owned Irish banking system might generate credit of $16.8  billion.  That would be enough to fund most of Ireland's deficit of 14.4 billion Euros_  (19.6 billion USD), and this money would effectively be interest-free,  since the government-owned bank would return its profits to the state.   Funding through its own bank would remove most of Ireland's deficit from  the private bond market, which is highly vulnerable to manipulation,  speculation and crippling downgrades.    
_Alternatively, this bank credit for building sustainable infrastructure and putting people back to work."_


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Our government and our so-called Finance Minister seem to be tied to Merkel's austerity thinking, like children on Mammy's apron string.

I can think of no other reason why we're not regulating the over-the-counter-trading market _*and*_ taxing the 14 QUADRILLION DOLLAR Derivative Market say 12.5%.


At the bare minimum we must clear out the top management banks and this present government to restore credibility to our banks, our country and our economy.


This includes that fool Dukes who paid bonuses to Anglo Staff last Christmas in the face of Armageddon and _*still*_ he can't get encryption codes from former employees.


And we must also start our own, state-controlled commercial lending bank -_* unless that is we don't want Ireland to recover at all!!!*_


Because otherwise, we're going nowhere next year - and for many years after that.


We'll go back to being the underdogs of Europe again.


For a very long time.


ONQ.


_"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation.  One is by the sword.  The other is by debt."_
- U.S.President John Adams


_"Britain is the slave of an international financial bloc."_
- British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, June 20, 1934


_"If the American people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning."_
- U.S.President Andrew Jackson, 1829


_"The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or so dependent upon its favors that there will be no opposition from that class while, on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending…will bear its burdens without complaint."_
- The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York, 1863


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## UFC (23 Dec 2010)

onq said:


> It seems like Merkel and her cohorts, so jealous of Ireland's former success



What success?

We were the fool using her credit card to live a life of luxury. Now we have to pay back that debt. It was all an illusion.

The only success we've had is convincing some multi-nationals to give us a few thousand jobs, but sure every country does that.


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## dam099 (26 Dec 2010)

What's the source for derivatives Market being 14 quadrillion? Most articles I've seen suggest more like 1.4 quadrillion. Also this is notionals so a 12.5% tax would probably have to be on the fair values which are generally a fraction of this otherwise it would tax the Market out of existence.


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## shanegl (27 Dec 2010)

dam099 said:


> What's the source for derivatives Market being 14 quadrillion? Most articles I've seen suggest more like 1.4 quadrillion. Also this is notionals so a 12.5% tax would probably have to be on the fair values which are generally a fraction of this otherwise it would tax the Market out of existence.



Hilarous idea isn't it?


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## DerKaiser (28 Dec 2010)

shanegl said:


> Hilarous idea isn't it?



Same kind of concept as a 12.5% tax on all lodgements and withdrawals from your bank account.  That would be fun too....


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## Chris (4 Jan 2011)

dam099 said:


> What's the source for derivatives Market being 14 quadrillion? Most articles I've seen suggest more like 1.4 quadrillion. Also this is notionals so a 12.5% tax would probably have to be on the fair values which are generally a fraction of this otherwise it would tax the Market out of existence.



I have corrected ONQ on this countless times but it falls on deaf ears. I have given up at this stage to comment anything more than that this pot of gold doesn't exist; not sure what more it would take for ONQ to acknowledge this.


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