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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Bill O'Reilly gets Ireland's economic crisis all wrong

Posted on Friday, November 26, 2010 at 06:15 PM
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'The luck of the Irish has run out.. the primary problem is that the European model of providing cradle-to-grave entitlements is no longer sustainable"

So Bill O'Reilly diagnoses the Irish financial meltdown in his weekly column.

It is a classic right-wing analysis of what allegedly happened.

Unfortunately, it is completely wrong.

Ireland had no great debt until it assumed the $100 billion or so that the banking system delivered to it when it collapsed.

By socializing that debt, in other words, making the taxpayer responsible for it not the greedy and out of control bankers, Ireland then hit the skids.

But it was a capitalism problem to begin with Bill, not a socialist problem.

The banks were like 'Girls Gone Wild' loaning money from European banks then reloaning it to ever more gullible Irish clients who spent and spent and built and built until.....

Well you know what happened next.

Now the banks, who took all the rewards want to avoid the risk too and stick the taxpayers with the bills.

And gullible Ireland has gone along with the IMF in making sure that it is all repaid with the bankers covered.

There is a reason why countries like Canada and Australia did not fall into this near economic collapse like Ireland, the U.S. and other countries did.

They had good government oversight of their banks.

That may be a form of socialism Bill, but I'd gladly undertake it if it made the ordinary taxpayer keep his money and stop it falling into the hands of greedy bankers as is happening in Ireland.


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58 comments

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seanomelbourne | Dec 05, 2010, 08:00 PM EST
We have oil Mman we've been sucking it out of the ground for nearly 100 years Not a Chinese missile in sight.

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Monsoonman | Dec 05, 2010, 02:45 PM EST
No one would have to "invade", if you had something of value to take, suppose oil was found under the great barrier reef and china decided to exploit it all, do you think they would listen to you or fear you, without the US behind you? Think upon this carefully: If it wasn't for capitalism/democracy there would be no liberalism. You exist because others are protecting you and paying your way. Go to china and be a liberal.

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maireadinmelb | Dec 05, 2010, 02:12 AM EST
Cant complain about totalitarians and China when Wikileaks is closed down by the US government! No one wants to invade Australia we have our capitalists ready to sell the natural resources! We only need us protection because we send our troops out with US troops. IF we kept them at home or on peace missions they would minimise the danger!!

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Monsoonman | Dec 04, 2010, 08:18 PM EST
Of course Lad, you are starting to see the saul alinsky thugs who have seized the reins of our government and your girl Hillary is one of them. They will use threats and coercion to get their ends and they hate wikileaks because it exposes them: WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord...Embassy dispatches show America used spying, threats and promises of aid to get support for Copenhagen accord....Now isn't that nice Lad, they knew it was a farce but they tried to force others to submit to their nefarious accord. Wikileaks is a treasure trove. Oh yesterday hillary announced she would never seek another elected office after she was through as secretary of state, I wonder why? H

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seanomelbourne | Dec 04, 2010, 05:24 PM EST
Our ports are open to all U.S. naval vessels much to the chagrin of us mere mortals.I read that the state dept. has warned Columbia university students not to twitter Wikileaks as this may affect their job prospects, smacks of a little totalitarianism what say thou?

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Monsoonman | Dec 02, 2010, 06:57 PM EST
You want the protection you gots to takes your medicine. Give us a base or two, let us install a few nuke silos. Open your ports to our nuclear armed submarines and warships and voila! You have an economy that allows you to have socialist values, without having to pay for yor real defense. Do you think totalitarian regimes like red chna, russia, north korea, iran, or any islamofascist country would allow you the freedoms you now enjoy? But try, maybe you can negotiate a better deal with the chi-coms.

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seanomelbourne | Dec 02, 2010, 05:48 PM EST
The U.S. have secret communication bases in Australia making us a nuclear target.No bases no target.

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Monsoonman | Dec 02, 2010, 11:26 AM EST
If you want the USA umbrella of protection....you will follow us into war, or help pay for your own protection.....Or make an alliance with someone else.

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maireadinmelb | Dec 02, 2010, 04:24 AM EST
May not have lost a battle but lost the war!!! hence communist Vietnam!! If every rule is made to be broken why are you so upset with Obama?? Oh thats right only conservatives are allowed!! Thankfully we have had minimal deaths in these conflicts does not change the fact that our government blindly followed the usa into wars that we should not be involved in!!

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seanomelbourne | Nov 30, 2010, 10:34 PM EST
Be graceful Maloney you lost in Vietnam the french had to work out a strategic withdrawal for you and they knew how to surrender in Vietnam I love the way the fascist right try to rewrite history.You were just a grunt in Nam you wouldn't have a clue if you were fighting a rearguard action ask your disgraced commanderS Westmoreland or Haigh.

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maloney | Nov 30, 2010, 01:06 PM EST
Once again, the American soldier never lost a battle in Nam. It was politically expedient to leave, driven by the media & left wing college crowd now in control of our govt. They are communist because of people just like you, not me. I want our troops out of Iraq & Afghanistan. That doesn't mean Yemen & Iran should be left to do as they please. The Aussies were shoulder to shoulder with the American G.I.? There were a lot of American shoulders that never saw an Aussie anywhere to be found. Rooland can count all the roos & cockatoos & still doesn't come close. The USA has lost more military personel than rooland contributed. By the way, in Nam we were told to get permission to return fire, every rule was meant to be broken.

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Monsoonman | Nov 30, 2010, 11:09 AM EST
Population of Australia: 23 million Population of United states: 310 million

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maireadinmelb | Nov 30, 2010, 04:16 AM EST
Our little country, it is almost the same size as the mainland USA!! Get your facts right!! Vietnam, another loss, another war that conservative australian government followed the usa into!! Great example!! What was the point of that one, to stop Vietnam becoming communist? THey are communist aren,t they!! IF you say that america did not lose in VIetnam you may as well say that Germany did not lose in WW 1, cause they signed the Armistace!

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hancock | Nov 29, 2010, 11:59 PM EST
Australia isn't even a real country yet.

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seanomelbourne | Nov 29, 2010, 11:01 PM EST
Maloney do you mean MacArthur when he wanted to nuke China? and was replaced by Eisenhower.Maloney wants to rewrite history The U.S. made what is called a strategic retreat, when the last helicopter was taking off from the embassy the North Vietnamese were bulldozing the front gates.I remember Colin Powell lying to the U.N. about mobile chemical factories for which he later recanted facts! boy facts! Monsoonman is correct about ww2 if were not for U.S. intervention who knows what the outcome would have been. By the way the Aussies stood shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. in every major conflict for the last 70 yrs.The majority of Americans/Aussies want their troops out of Iraq/Afghanistan. like the Vietnam war with the passage of time why are we there

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