8 billion quid!!

Garry H

priory wrote:

When I last looked a substantial porti0n of british forces seemed to have the irish accent.

Would this be the substantial portion that are Northern Irish?

nolf

The much hyped "contagion" is slightly more complicated than a 1 sentence headline would suggest...

Greece's problem was a big hole in public finances.
Irelands is an overexposed private sector, guaranteed by government, that has an uncertain quantity of bad debt.

Governments can get through debt problems as long as the bond market deems them a good credit risk compared to returns.
A lot of it comes back to the willingness of the bond market.

Germany and France won't have problems because they have good credit ratings, rooted in a much clearer picture of private sector exposure to bad debt (and the government guarantees), and they've got clear fiscal reductions in place.

Ireland was doing ok, before some of the worst debt exposure and loss of deposits became clear. They'll probably get through it, IMF's inclusion adds a lot of credibility to the EU liquidity package.

They should get through it ok, it's more what the implications are for othercountries that matter.

rick_chasey

nolf wrote:

The much hyped "contagion" is slightly more complicated than a 1 sentence headline would suggest...

Greece's problem was a big hole in public finances.
Irelands is an overexposed private sector, guaranteed by government, that has an uncertain quantity of bad debt.

Governments can get through debt problems as long as the bond market deems them a good credit risk compared to returns.
A lot of it comes back to the willingness of the bond market.

Germany and France won't have problems because they have good credit ratings, rooted in a much clearer picture of private sector exposure to bad debt (and the government guarantees), and they've got clear fiscal reductions in place.

Ireland was doing ok, before some of the worst debt exposure and loss of deposits became clear. They'll probably get through it, IMF's inclusion adds a lot of credibility to the EU liquidity package.

They should get through it ok, it's more what the implications are for othercountries that matter.

What is interesting is that Germany's exposure is, in absolute terms, very similar to the UK exposure, with the US's about half of that, and the French a little less again.

Stewie Griffin

Left gobsmacked by an Irish mate last night, in the pub for our every other week beer after work where we talk bo11ox about Sport and what we would do to solve the Worlds problems, as you do. In the past he has moaned about us not helping them 150 years ago when they only planted one crop and it got fecked. The other night he was giving off about how getting help from us to the tune of billions of pounds was like begging from the old empire. Make your mind up, I have in the past also suggested to him that being angry during Easter because of the Easter Rising which happened in 1916 and was 44 years before he was born isnt doing him any good. He points out to me that I should also "remember" as my Mum is Irish, I love reminding him that I however am English and the last thing I held a pint aloft to was Trafalgar day on 21st October

Frank the tank

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Apparently, and this is pretty heavy hearsay here, we were 75 minutes from going completely bankrupt in August 2008.

Source: The friend of the assistant to Mervyn King

And appearently, Sadam Hussain had WMD that were ready to be launched at forty minutes notice!

Not saying I don't believe you just making a point.

priory

>>Would this be the substantial portion that are Northern Irish?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7749793.stm

This is the current situation. In the sixties and seventies it was said if the irish left the raf would shut down.