GUESS WHO just got back today? Them bailout boys that had been away; Not much changed since they last came to stay; But man, they still think our stats are great . . .
It was quarterly return time again yesterday and as poor Mother Ireland presented herself for another pat on the head from the visiting international overlords, we felt a song coming on.
[….]“I see encouraging changes,” said Klaus Masuch of the ECB, who felt the Irish are showing a “great understanding” of why they are being forced to endure such a severe course of fiscal action.
“I’m impressed by the depth of discussion in Ireland,” declared Klaus, before ruining our brief restoration of national pride.
“My taxi driver from the airport was very, very informed, I must say. Very, very informed.”
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MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson
I guess that Masuchism really is the rage. At least, that’s what the leprechaun who served me my triple-cherry-vintage-brandy-with-virgin-almond-flakes-latte told me.
Or did I dream it?
Dr.BDH
If Paul Krugman wants anyone to listen to him and take his advice, he should start driving a cab.
Violet
Oooh! Taxi driver knowledge! The Moustache of Understanding is probably getting a tingle up his leg.
Dexter
Are we sure that Mr. Klaus is not Mustache of Understanding in disguise?
KG
Norquist thinks if Obama wins and lets the Bush tax cuts expire that the Republicans will have enough seats in both the House and the Senate to impeach him by 2014. Pretty sure “raising taxes” isn’t “high crimes and misdemeanors”. At least with Clinton they could argue that he committed perjury by lying under oath in a civil trial. The Wingularity is near.
trollhattan
@Violet:
He must be SO sorry he’s not there for the fun. Or IS he…?
Angry DougJ
@KG:
I loved that.
MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson
@KG:
Grover Norquist is still batshit crazy? Oh the shock and awe!
Raspar Capac
The interview is great.
trollhattan
O/T Jim Treacher is trolling Kilgore at his new gig. And acknowledges it.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_01/wsj_offers_climate_change_deni035040.php#comments
Cat Lady
If the tumbrels start rolling anywhere, it’s going to be in the streets of Dublin first and we’ll be able to thank the Catholic Church, maybe for the only thing ever. The Irish have had all their beliefs and illusions smashed. A better song would be Won’t Get Fooled Again. The Irish know who to blame.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, everyone and their mom jumped on the moustache of understanding jokes before I even got a chance to make one.
/pouts
One of these days, these bankster assholes are going to escorted directly to a necktie party as they arrive the airport, and boy will I be deeply, deeply upset at that.
ralph
Ah yes, thank you Klaus!
And my fellow Germans always seem to feel that no one likes us. But how could that be with our history and shining lights like Klaus showing the world the best we have to offer?
Anyway, check out Klaus’ Greatest Hit, it’s worth it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAf7J4a_T1g
The Moar You Know
They sure are showing a “great understanding” of the joys of austerity. That’s why Ireland has the highest emigration rate of any nation in Europe at the moment. If I were in Ireland, I’d be doing my damndest do get the fuck out before I was placed back on the potato and infant diet that has always been a staple of the Irish during hard times.
srv
3:1 the taxi driver was Polish.
Bob2
Megan’s old black bus person who talked about yeah…
taxi driver indeed.
Tone In DC
These idjits… are their brains even connected to their mouths? (with apologies to Joss Whedon)
Comrade Dread
Where’s the IRA when you really need them and everyone would applaud their choice of target?
Robert Sneddon
@Cat Lady:
“The Irish know who to blame.”
Cromwell?
Calouste
Can’t wait until the New York Times start an article with some Bruce Springsteen.
Villago Delenda Est
@Robert Sneddon:
William III.
Or one of those German guys.
Cat Lady
@Robert Sneddon:
Cowen. For starters.
Robert Sneddon
@Comrade Dread: The IRA changed their name to Continuity IRA and are continuing to kill and maim Irish folks just like the good old days. They’re probably getting donations from boozy third-generation Bostonian Irish-wannabees even now.
JGabriel
The boys are back in town.
.
Satanicpanic
I want to be a cab driver just so I can troll these nitwits with outlandish opinions.
Comrade Dread
@Robert Sneddon: Ugh. Then I apologize for the previous joke.
JGabriel
@Dr.BDH:
Or blow shit up.
.
Robert Sneddon
@Comrade Dread:
The IRA shot and killed a couple of British off-duty soldiers in Northern Ireland in 2009 as they were going to get a pizza. One man was recently convicted of their murder. There’s been a number of bombings and attempted bombings too in the past few years, usually ascribed to “dissident groups” made up of folks who just happen to be long-serving members of the Provisional IRA.
The LVF and other Loyalist nutters have continued with their games too, sadly. The only good thing is that the total number of attacks on Irish folks by these cretins is well down from the glory days.
Fergal
You may enjoy what happened after Klaus made those comments. Though I suspect he didn’t enjoy it much
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAf7J4a_T1g
The Moar You Know
@Robert Sneddon: We still have our Confederates, almost 150 years after the fact. The IRA and the Orange fuckers are going to be around at least that long.
Only way to fight it is more and better employment.
WereBear
Speaking of getting away with murder, ChemNutra has simply changed its name and is bragging about their Chinese connections:
EOS Direct
They are the ones who knowingly imported food starch contaminated with melamine and killed thousands of pets in 2009.
Do spread the word. They should lose business. They should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, but we can’t even get them to go bankrupt.
burnspbesq
@Cat Lady:
Stuff and/or nonsense. Everything that has happened in Ireland has been entirely self-inflicted. Which is what happens when you have a parliament and government that are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the real estate development community.
It would be much better for all concerned if you had some actual knowledge before firing up the ol’ keyboard.
Thoughtcrime
@Violet:
Someday a real rain’ll come and wash all this scum off the streets.
burnspbesq
@Robert Sneddon:
Wrong-o. Continuity IRA is a splinter group that has no support in the community. The Official IRA is indistinguishable from Sinn Fein.
Believe it or not, the people of Ulster kinda like not getting shot at or blown up on a regular basis.
iriedc
Apologies if folks have already noted this: Taxi Drivers don’t just work for the fare, they work for TIPS. Any taxi driver with sense turns on the charm and might even pretend to agree with you to make the 20 minute ride bearable.
WereBear
@burnspbesq: Ya know, unlike some, I totally believe you are a lawyer, because you have the breathtaking ability to always reach for assholishness, and then grasp it.
Cat Lady
@WereBear:
He’s a thin skinned Catholic Church apologist AND an assholish
know-it-alllawyer. It’s a two fer of suckitude.Robert Sneddon
@WereBear: No, he’s right even if he is an asshole.
The Irish government went out and whored themselves to the international corporations, gifting them tax-free status if they would set up businesses in the Republic. They did, of course, benefitting from an educated English-speaking workforce embedded in the tariff-free EU’s trade structure and, a big bonus, with lots of EU development fund cash rolling into the government’s coffers to build out the infrastructure. They hired a lot of contract workers and started making billions of Euros profit which got shuffled through various intenational subsidiary offices (Google “Double Dutch” for one example of the art) to file off any other tax liabilities before the moneys were repatriated to the home offices.
The Irish used their new-found wealth to build houses, lots of them because as everyone knows houses always grow in value by ten percent a year or more, forever and ever and besides with all the young Irish folks coming back to the Auld Country now that well-paid jobs were easy to find they’d need homes now, wouldn’t they?
To cut a long story short, the good times ended. The development funds dried up. The housing market has crashed leaving a lot of empty properties and half-built estates all over the place. The internationals, threatened with having to pay corporation taxes as the goverment scrabbles to meet their budgetary requirements are planning to bail to some other country willing to cut them a tax-free deal, closing down rented offices and ending the leases on their warehouses. The contract workers aren’t getting their contracts extended and unemployment is rising again. I think they call this sort of thing a recession.
The really bad news is that the Irish government is now regarded as a financial bad risk, not as bad as Greece but bad enough. The currency markets won’t loan them the money they need to sustain their existence at the sorts of miniscule rates better bets like the US or Germany can command. Result? They have to go cap in hand to the bank of last resort, the ECB and those flinty-eyed hard-hearted bastards want to see blood and sweat before they will pull the Irish government (and its people) out of the financial hole they so enthusiastically dug for themselves, all the time chanting “Celtic Tiger! Celtic Tiger!”
WereBear
@Robert Sneddon: Thank you for the explanation.
I never said he wasn’t right. I just don’t see why he has to be rude and snotty.
I worked temp for far too many BSD in law firms in my day. Now I’m allergic :)
Robert Sneddon
@burnspbesq: It’s kind of weird that the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA and the other IRAs just happen to be made up of ex-members of the Provisional IRA, isn’t it? It’s almost like they had some kind of spiritual connection, isn’t it? Same thing happened before, when the Official IRA spawned the Provos back in the 60s.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Robert Sneddon:
the problem being, that ireland in particular was a country that had been economically exploited and left behind time and again. i still think its a bit shallow to blame the irish people for economic hubris when they finally saw economic development after centuries of unfulfilled promises.
new money problems. there might have been some guidance from the vultures now circling that could have prevented such problems. that isn’t how capitalism works, though. its like the irish were the first round draft pick from a poverty stricken broken home.
Robert Sneddon
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal: I blame their government which was a watchword for corruption and back-room dealing. There was a wonderful slogan — “Ben there, Dunne that, bought the Taoiseach” after the sitting Taoiseach Charles Haughey was investigated by the police a few years ago for accepting bribes from the supermarket magnate Ben Dunne. Imagine a sitting US President being publicly investigated by the FBI for irregular dealings with the head of Walmart and you’re close to what the situation in Ireland was.
The bad news is that the corruption and patronage that slogan makes fun of is endemic in Irish political life. A newer breed has moved into the corridors of power promising to sweep away the cosy financial and social connections that helped turn Ireland into a financial disaster zone but it’s probable they will turn out to be as corrupt as the last few lots. The worse news is that the Irish people regard this kind of corruption as normal and to be expected.
The Irish people need to do something about that now their economy has been trashed by get-rich-quick cowboys and unfulfilled promises but they probably won’t. A lot of them will whine and blame someone else — Cromwell will do if no-one better springs to mind since for the Irish, it’s always someone else’s fault.
Bullsmith
Why there hasn’t been violence in Ireland over the theft of the public purse by the government on behalf of foreign banks and investors is a bit puzzling to me. Or if not violence, serious, angry upheaval. The Irish have a long history of violence, the theft is brazen, the willingness of all the supposedly ‘representative’ parties to fuck over the populace is well established…. If you can’t count on the Irish to get rowdy, who can you count on? The Egyptians, I suppose.
Anne Laurie
@Bullsmith:
Since at least the Great Famine, emigration has been the “safety valve” for populist unrest in Ireland. It’s been comparatively easy for the brightest, most ambitious young Irish to hop over to Liverpool, or Canada, or Boston/NY, or wherever the English Queen needed more fighters to defend ‘her’ empire. Potential reformers & other troublemakers have found it easier to up stakes and relocate than to fight the interlocked church/state system.