The Irish Economy’s Rise Was Steep, and the Fall Was Fast

[roseBudd]

How many times did John McCain cite Ireland for it's low tax rate?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/business/worldbusiness/04ireland.html?em

Everything, it seems, has grown worse here. The recession started earlier and its bite has been deeper. Housing prices have fallen by as much as 50 percent. Bank shares have plummeted by more than 90 percent. Unemployment is approaching 10 percent.

The roots of Ireland’s fall date to more than 20 years ago, when a clutch of economists, politicians and civil servants put their heads together in this very pub and planted the philosophical seeds for the Irish economic miracle.

snip

But beyond the glow of this sudden efflorescence that made Ireland the fourth most-affluent country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a housing bubble had begun to form. Low interest rates, a wave of inward immigration and a bank lending spree drove housing’s share of the economy to 14 percent, the highest in Europe, from 5 percent.

snip

The Irish government recently announced a $7.5 billion bank bailout and took majority stakes in the country’s largest banks, a move that followed the government’s earlier promise to guarantee all bank deposits.

[fishnfla]

1. Critics will point to guaranteed education and health care as the culprit

banking crisis kills

[acmavm]

3. Smarter, healthier citizens ARE the problem. If you spend money on the

plebs, why you can't give it all to the Predator Class.

:sarcasm:

[Demeter]

5. At Least they have Something to Show For Spending the Money

and it will only increase the dividends.

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[Peregrine Took]

4. Thanks for posting. I've sent it around to all my relatives. n/t