300 men and three men

BLOG: http://thechatteringmagpie14.blogspot.com/

ONLINE PETITION: http://www.petitiononline.com/isntbb11

May 13th 2011

BALLYHEA BONDHOLDER BAILOUT PROTEST – SUNDAY 10.30am - 11^th MARCH

In all its uglier guises I hate nationalism.  Benign nationalism is fine, e.g. beating England at anything (so long as we can enjoy each other’s good company – over a few pints maybe – before, during and after), the surge of national pride felt when someone like Katie Taylor steps on to the podium to receive another gold medal.  But chest-beating nationalism, as in ‘the best little nation in the world,’ or ‘the most hospitable nation in the world,’ or the wittiest or the wisest or whatever you're having yourself – must have been away when all those particular competitions were held.  As for the tattooed, in-your-face, aggressive nationalism – keep it, and welcome to it.

There are occasions, however, when we have to stand up as a nation, times of national crisis; now is one of those occasions.

In November 2010, when the ECB demanded of our government that as a condition of getting the much-needed funds to keep the country running in the face of a massive budget deficit, they would also have to assume the massive bank/bondholder debt, it represented an attack on this country.  No shots fired, no bombs dropped, no blood spilt, but an attack nevertheless, a potentially lethal attack at that.

To coincide with the 95^th anniversary of the execution of James Connolly there was a protest in Kildare Street on Thursday evening last outside the Dáil against that bondholder bailout deal, small in number, and I couldn't help but wonder – how many of those inside those gates today would do as Connolly did then, put themselves in the line of fire for the sake of their country’s freedom and independence?  Successive governments have failed us, so on this, we must stand for ourselves.

The opening lines of the opening verse of that song, A Nation Once Again, has always resonated with me: ‘When boyhood’s fire was in my blood, I read of ancient freemen; of Greece and Rome who bravely stood, 300 men and three men.’  The 300 we all know about now, Leonidas and his Spartans - the power of modern media; of Horatius and his two companions who held the bridge over the Tiber, saved Rome from the army of Clusium, less is known.  Both, however, were instances of a few standing against overwhelming odds, a delaying action.  Well, only a few are standing now against the actions of the ECB; in Ballyhea, in Fermoy, in Dublin on Thursday last, in a few other areas around the country.  Until such time as this nation awakens to what has been done to it, until it rallies to its own cause, we will stay standing, and we will stay fighting.  We must.

Then out spake brave Horatius,

          The Captain of the Gate:

     "To every man upon this earth

          Death cometh soon or late.

     And how can man die better

          Than facing fearful odds,

     For the ashes of his fathers,

          And the temples of his gods.”

Regards,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.

10th March report, 11th march promo

ONLINE PETITION: http://www.petitiononline.com/isntbb11

BALLYHEA BONDHOLDER BAILOUT PROTEST – 10^th MARCH

Our 10^th march took place last Sunday, May 8^th, a good core in place now.  We’ve been so lucky so far weather-wise and even on a weekend when the skies darkened and the heavens opened, with monsoon-like rains, the clouds lifted just long enough for us to complete our usual march, from car-park to speed-limit sign and back.  Suggests that while those to whom we are appealing down here are still turning a deaf ear, someone up there is listening, and approves of our efforts!

To again outline our protest: It is strictly non-party-political, no paraphernalia of any description, the tricolour the only flag allowed, our own banner front and back of the march the only banners; it is single-issue, we demand the annulment of the deal struck under duress (Brian Lenihan’s own admission) by the then Irish government with the IMF/ECB in November of last year, the bank bondholder debt subsequently treated as it ought to have been treated then, those bondholders to suffer their own pain.

Our 11^th march takes place in Ballyhea again this Sunday, at the now regular time of 10.30am.  This is your opportunity, perhaps your only real opportunity, to make a tangible statement on the massive injustice that has been visited on every individual in this country.  We’re a tiny voice, and we are crying into a wilderness of sorts, but we must keep trying.  The alternative is to simply roll over and invite further abuse.

Regards,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.

Paddy Honohan, comedian

Picked this up off Constantin Gurdgiev's twitter (a man worth following, believe me), thought ye might like a laugh. From a paper produced by our main man at the Central Bank, the patriot Paddy Honohan, in September 2000.  Look particularly to the final two paragraphs.

WP'S ZLf I

POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER 2441

Controlling Fiscal Costs of Banking Crises

Patrick Honohan and Daniela Klingebiel

The World Bank*

I. Introduction

In recent decades, a majority of countries - rich and poor alike – have experienced a systemic banking crisis, requiring a major - and expensive - overhaul of their banking system. Not only do banking crises hit the budget with outlays that have to be absorbed by higher taxation (or spending cuts), but they are also costly in terms of foregone economic output.

Many different policy recommendations have been made for limiting the cost of crises; but there has been little systematic effort to see whether these recommendations work in practice. This paper attempts to bridge that gap. Specifically, we seek to quantify

the extent to which fiscal outlays incurred in resolving banking system distress can be attributed to crisis management measures of a particular kind adopted by the government during the early years of the crisis. We do this by analyzing forty crises around the world for which we have data. This data includes information on costs and on the nature of the resolution and intervention policy.

We find that fiscal costs are systematically associated with a set of crisis management strategies. Our empirical findings reveal that unlimited deposit guarantees, open-ended liquidity support, repeated recapitalizations, debtor bail-outs and regulatory forbearance add significantly and sizably to costs (isn't this exactly what the ECB - Honohan its Irish Central Bank rep - forced our government to do? - DO'F). 

Using the regression results to simulate the effects of these policies, we find that if countries had not extended unlimited deposit guarantees, open-ended liquidity support, repeated recapitalizations, debtor bailouts and regulatory forbearance, average fiscal costs in our sample could have been limited to about 1 per cent of GDI' - little more than a tenth of what was actually experienced. On the other hand, policy could have been worse: had countries engaged in all of the above policies the regression results imply that fiscal costs in excess of 60 per cent of GDP would have been the result (my italics, but again, isn't this exactly what was mandated here by the ECB, and isn't this what's happening, our debt/GDP ratio rising out of sight??? - DO'F).

Into double figures

May 3rd 2011

BALLYHEA BONDHOLDER BAILOUT PROTEST – INTO DOUBLE FIGURES

THIS COMING SUNDAY IN BALLYHEA, 10.30am, we will be holding our tenth protest march against the deal that was struck on our behalf on November 28^th last year.

To reiterate our aim: Last November the ECB came to Ireland ostensibly to bailout the country, but in reality their mission was to bail out the bondholders, who we believe (though it’s near impossible to get details of who these bondholders are/were) were mainly German and French banks.  Under extreme pressure from the ECB our then government signed off on a deal that transferred tens of billions of private bank/bondholder debt to the Irish people. 

Regardless of who the bondholders are, regardless of whether or not we can afford the repayments (and we can’t), this was a foul deed, an act of blatant imperialism, a burden imposed on a weakened but still sovereign nation by an inordinately powerful few.  We demand that the deal of November 2010 should be revisited and the bank/bondholder debt terms reversed, those bondholders then to be dealt with as they should have been in the first place, made to suffer their own losses.

That’s it; that’s our protest, that’s our cause.  That foul, unfair, unjust deed must be undone, that burden – the burden of others - lifted from our shoulders.  Then and only then, will we satisfied, then and only then can we again prosper.  Join our protest, sign our online petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/isntbb11/petition.html

Regards,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.

March updates - 7th, 8th & 9th

May 3rd 2011

BALLYHEA BONDHOLDER BAILOUT PROTEST - THE MARCH CONTINUES

Our seventh march was held on a Saturday evening, April 16^th at 8.15pm, to facilitate those who couldn't make the regular time of 11.45am on Sunday.  A good crowd but numbers were down on the Sunday march, so it was decided to try something different again – 10.30am on the Sunday morning, giving people time to a) go to 11am Mass, should they desire, and b) time then to arrange the rest of their day, including underage GAA training/matches etc.

Our eighth march then was held on April 24^th, Easter Sunday and again we had a good crowd, numbers up slightly on the Saturday march, certainly in excess of 60.  For the first time we had flags, the national flag, on the grounds that in the week that was in it, the 95^th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, if that can’t unite us, nothing can.

Our ninth march took place last Sunday, May 1^st, and again we had the tricolour, which will now become the only flag allowed on the march.  Again numbers were strong, but we have lost one family or regular marchers, Páidí O'Connell and his clan emigrated to the US for a year due to the downturn in the economy – we all wish them well.

Our tenth march will go ahead this Sunday, 10.30am, and this will now become the regular time every week.  Please join us.  The news on the economic front gets worse and worse, the pie-in-the-sky predictions by our politicians again proving false.  The advice of a series of respected economists is this; if we continue on the current path we will default, sovereign default, but there is still €35bn in bonds to be argued over – fight.

Regards,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.

On-line petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/isntbb11/petition.html

In the decade of the so-called Celtic Tiger Irish banks borrowed billions, poured them into the property market, created a bubble of such enormity that when it burst, it destroyed the entire Irish economy, including the banks themselves.  When those who had been foolish enough and reckless enough to lend those billions to those banks came looking to cash in their bonds there was precious little left, at which point the normal rules of economics should have kicked in – the bondholders cut and run, negotiate their losses and move on to the next likely investment.

In September 2008 came the first intervention, a weak and ill-advised government panicked into a blanket bank guarantee; on November 28^th 2010 the second intervention, that guarantee copper-fastened in a deal which will go down in history as one of the most dastardly deeds ever done in the name of the Irish people - under duress from the ECB, the then Irish Government signed a deal under which the private debts between the Irish banks and their various bondholders were transferred, in full, to the Irish people.

Immoral, unjust, unconscionable – this was all of that and more.  It was an unprecedented interference with the normal workings of the money markets, a decision that smacked more of empire than of community, a decision mandated by the ECB to protect the bondholders at the expense of the already seriously impacted Irish people.  Threatened with withdrawal of all support, the then Irish government was basically blackmailed into signing the deal; the Irish people were never consulted, were simply saddled with a debt they had never themselves accrued.

We petition now for this deal to be undone; we petition for those bondholders to be treated now as they should have been treated then, with whatever consequences they have to suffer; at the very least, we petition for a referendum on this deal, that the Irish people may themselves decide whether or not it’s acceptable that they should now be saddled with this debt.

An Easter prayer for Ieland 2011

Where the Mind Is Without Fear
by Rabindranath Tagore

---

Where the heart is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by
          narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depths of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
          dreary desert sands of dead habit 
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening
          thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.