Goodbye Ireland. Ireland 10 Year Treasuries Break 8% "At above 8%, it now makes more sense for the country to tap the European bailout fund than to keep funding itself on the market. Granted, Ireland won't be going to the market until early next year, but obviously the government is desperately eager to get the yield down before it mas to make that decision." DUBLINâWith doubts swirling about the solvency of the Irish state in early September, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan summoned a dozen senior government and bank officials to a conference room nicknamed the "torture chamber," a nod to its history as a venue for painful meetings. For two years, Ireland had poured money on a raging banking crisis, to no avail. Each estimate of the rising price of rescuing Ireland's banks turned out too low. Mr. Lenihan needed to halt the drip-drip of bad news that was leading his country to ruin. "I want a final figure ASAP," he told the group. Two weeks later, the estimate came in: Up to â¬50 billionânearly $50,000 for every household in the Emerald Isle. But now, investors are betting the bill could be higher still and could reignite Europe's sovereign-debt crisis. The unpopular government is bracing for collapse, and on Tuesday, Irish government bonds continued a week-long slide to a fresh record low. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506404575592360334457040.html
<p> a bit of a sad country..one of the few countries in the world to have a population less than 150 years ago. </p><img style="cursor: -moz-zoom-in;" alt="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/IrelandEuropePopulation1750.PNG" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/IrelandEuropePopulation1750.PNG" height="588" width="850" /> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>
This reminds me of Dubai world and Lehman, nice quiet orderly markets and then wham four days later the shit hits the fan.
Thats because all the irish came here 150 years ago. And you all have to remember that just 20-30 years ago, Ireland was practically a 3rd world country. Everyone was poor when I was there back in the 80s and early 90s. But my last trip to ireland in 2004, it seems everyone was rich. Even the poor people seemed to have enough. In fact when I was there, I saw 1 beggar my entire time I was there(which is unheard of when I travel as there are always beggars everywhere in all countries), and that guy that was begging wasnt even Irish, he was pakistani.
"In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852.[1] It is also known, mostly outside of Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine.[2] In the Irish language it is called an Gorta Mór meaning "the Great Hunger" or an Drochshaol meaning "the bad times". During the Famine, Ireland's population fell by between 20 and 25%. Approximately one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)