The best way to hit the golden circle

P

Purple

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If it can be proven that property developers and bankers are guilty of criminal offences then the best way to deal with them is to take away their money. They should be fined, cleaned out, left with nothing… but the idea of sending them to prison with common criminals does seem to be a bit over the top. These guys are used to the good life, eating well and living the jet-set lifestyle. Taking that from them should be punishment enough. Making their share a cell with some common drug addict is unreasonable and disproportionate.
In some cases they were greedy and stupid but many of them are patriots who got caught up in the whirlwind.
 
I think people often forget all the good work that people like Sean Fitzpatrick have over the years. They were just unlucky the market turned. Can't understand this desire for punishment.
 
Why not do both?

If someone is convicted of very serious financial crime, they should go to jail and have all their assets confiscated.

It's crazy that they can go to an open prison for 2 years and then come out and start their old lifestyle again.

All of their assets including their pension and their family home should be taken. In such cases, the Family Home Protection Act should not apply.

Brendan
 
Not really fair on the poor wife though. I know Anglo and the rest of the banks are in a mess but I really don't think that it is fair to blame everything on this 'Golden Circle'. We need to move past looking for scapegoats. Nobody predicted that property prices would fall so you can't blame the banks.
 
These were just ordinary bankers.

What about the ones generally known as merchant bankers?
 
Have to agree with Sunny and VOR. I say we let bygones be bygones and start again with a clean slate. Sure won't they spend their money in Ireland and that'll be good for the economy.
 
I do not believe people should be punished for trying to create wealth (and jobs), if it's all legal and above board.
I do believe that those who are responsible for the mire we are now in should be punished. Certain members of the government should be forced to clean up Chernobyl, because they're certainly incapable of cleaning up Ireland's financial mess.
 
To be fair, it all started to go wrong once Bertie left office or should I say hounded out of office. Amazing how it is only when they are gone that we can really appreciate these people.
 
Given that a lot of these guys have the inside track on how financial stuff works, rather than victimising them and their WAGS and rug-rats, could we not just sequester them in an empty, upmarket, gated community and use them as an alternative financial regulator? NAMA could charge them suitably inflated rents and service charges and save the state the costs of incarcerating them.

With their proven track records in scheming, scamming and skimming, we could make use of these abilities to spot nascent schemers, scammers and skimmers and head them off at the pass, turning these Jokers into latter-day Batmans and Robins.
 
Purple said:
If it can be proven that property developers and bankers are guilty of criminal offences then the best way to deal with them is to take away their money. They should be fined, cleaned out, left with nothing… .
Click to expand...

First thing to go should be the Druid's Glen membership? That will hurt them where it really hurts.

One of the newpapers has a picture of a gun pointing at some of those who have created much of the mess that is Anglo Irish. In the old days honerable men did the deed themselves. Pray tell how do those who have done what they have done live with themselves, have they no shame at all. How are they treated when they go to Druid's Glen etc. Is it really just one club, one golden circle and once in, that's it, you're taken care of. I have relations and friends in dire financial straits, waking up everyday worried about where the next paycheck is going to come from and deciding who to pay off first and worried about revenue or social welfare pounding on the door. They've told me they are ashamed of the situation they are in and don't want to deal with the reality of their situation because of this, yet we have bankers waltzing into jailhouses with their heads held high for friendly chats with gardai playing the political game while the bank they owe money to is going to write off their debts and the rest of us will be paying for this for generations. Something is certainly rotten in the state of Ireland and rotton to the core.

Any politician that votes this rescue for Anglo in the national interest should really really think about what they are doing and not just about a short term petty objective of avoiding a general election. Treason isn't far off the mark in my opinion.
 

That's not really fair. As Purple said, these people were Patriots. They brought great wealth and success to this Country. It wasn't their fault that the market turned. Who knew that the idea of owning holiday homes in places like Leitrim would go out of fashion.
 

So what you are saying is one law for the rich and one for the poor? If they've done a crime, they should do the time and the law should be applied to everyone equally regardless of their status in life
 
Sure poor David Drumm has had to suffer the indignity of Charlie Bird on his doorstep. Is there no end to the poor man's suffering !!!
 
Thet should be jailed for a long long time, stipped of all their assets and their Irish citizenship.
 
None of them will do time of any sort, nor will they lose their wealth. The only people who will be doing time are those being slapped with judgement mortgages, instalment orders, bad credit ratings, chased by debt chasers, hounded by MBNA et al, forced to beg from social welfare officers, suffer the indignity of queuing in the dole office and dealing with a nin com poom therein whose only thrill in life is giving them the run around and searching under beds for people cohabiting.

Meanwhile the lunatics running the asylum are off on holidays again when we have the greatest financial crisis in the history of the state.

And don't forget the taxpayers, you're going to be paying for all of this because at the end of the day only the little people pay taxes.
 
What have they done anyway that's so bad?

Everyone makes mistakes - is it really that big of a problem?

Fair play to them I say, at least they were being true to themselves.
 
I tend to agree with Caveat. We need entrepreneurs like never before. A bit more regulation and we should be fine again soon. The added national debt can be financed over a long time and the natural effects of inflation should see this become relatively small over time.
 
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