Madam, – Along with William Grimes and Jim Power (September 1st), I share the frustration and anger at having to watch as this great country and its people are being pushed further and further into an economic black hole with the only outlook comprising of crippling taxation, rising unemployment and forced emigration.
Betting Ireland’s commercial future on the assumption that the property market has levelled off or is just about to, is a catastrophic mistake.
Every single indicator – rising unemployment, forced emigration, rising interest rates, limited or no bank lending and years of increased taxation ahead all point to the very unpalatable and unpopular fact that this property market is in free fall. We are witnessing, as it is being described privately in property circles “a race to the bottom”.
While I have no doubt Messrs Lenihan and Cowen et al believe they are taking the correct measures, they are, however – as they were in the boom – very much mistaken. Put simply, just as the international rating agencies have concluded, the price of Nama’s toxic property purchases plus the enormous professional and annual compounded interest costs will never overtake their actual value. The taxpayers’ exposure will increase further as prices continue to fall and Nama, as opposed to being a solution to this problem will have become an enormous rebranded version of Anglo Irish Bank.
As Fintan O’Toole states, (August 31st) we will all wake up to the reality of an economic nightmare. – Yours, etc,