Madam, – I would have liked to buy some of the sovereign debt bonds which have been sold by NTMA paying over 6 per cent interest. The best I can do with my savings in this country is about half of that. I’m not surprised this sale was oversubscribed by almost three times. It certainly was a good buy for the investors. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The reaction of the financial commentators to the sale of Government bonds remind me off the heyday of developer borrowing from Anglo Irish Bank.
A proposal was made for funding, obtaining it was the only concern and Anglo obliged. No one gave more than a passing mention to the “commitment fee” and exorbitant interest rate. Getting the money showed that you were still in favour. Drinks for all in the Horseshoe Bar.
Perhaps a greater similarity and worry is the fact that the money, once obtained, went into a black hole, now called “ghost estates” and half-completed or empty office blocks. Our black hole is now Anglo-Irish. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It is remarkable that anyone should seem pleased we have added another €1.5 billion of debt (bond auction) onto the backs of the Irish taxpayer (Breaking News, September 21st).
Well over two years into this crisis and still Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan have pushed through no structural reform of the economy or tax system to make sure it costs less to run the country. All they have been doing is racking up more and more debt so they can avoid having to do anything to reform how the country is governed and how it generates the income to pay for itself.
It takes no skill whatsoever to place a massive debt burden for decades to come and yet we are meant to believe that to fall for the con that replacing Brian Cowen with Brian Lenihan would be a good thing? I beg to differ. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – We all know that if I owe the banks €3,000 it’s my problem and that if I owe €3,000,000 it is the banks’ problem. But nowadays, alarmingly, it would seem that if I owe the banks €3,000,000,000 it is very much the country’s problem! – Yours, etc,