On the Recent Austerity in Ireland

[lsanderson]

Ireland: A recession of the banks, by the banks, and for the banks
by P O Neill

Some stories heard in rural Ireland this summer. A farmer goes into an embattled tractor dealer and reaches an understanding on the purchase of an expensive tractor. The farmer then goes to his local bank manager to get financing to purchase the tractor; as agriculture is not doing too badly despite the recession, there is some hope. But the bank has an unexpected response: we can’t give you a loan to buy that tractor, but we can finance one very like it — that we recently reposessed. So banks are in the farm machinery business, at the expense of actual farm machinery businesses. More

Shamelessly Stolen from Paul Krugman