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Under pressure? eschipul via Flickr

Column Want a debt deal? Then let’s pressure the German MPs opposing it

The future of the euro crisis lies in the hands of small groups of politicians abroad, writes Eamon Ryan. Let’s hope our own leaders recognise this.

WE ARE REACHING the critical point in the resolution or otherwise of the European crisis. What happens to the euro and by dint of that, what happens in the world economy will depend on a small group of German, Finnish and Dutch parliamentarians who have to decide whether they really want to maintain the single currency or whether it is not politically possible for them to defend the cost of doing so.

They either go ahead with some of the innovative funding mechanisms that the European Central Bank is now considering, or they let the European Union economic system fall apart. It is that big a deal. It is that simple a choice. We will either see a victory for nationalist sentiment which rises in fearful times like this or else we will see a historic movement towards greater cooperation, which is what I think we need.

You could ask the people which choice has the greater public support, but it is hard to think how you would frame the question let alone carry out a referendum in a practical and timely way. It will be the job of their democratic representatives to decide where the majority view lies.

Four years ago I was confident that the European system would in the end deal with the crisis. Today I am not so sure. We have had too many parties saying they would stand by the single currency and then give a side briefing to favoured newspapers suggesting perhaps we could just let a little country go.

We have had too many ineffective European Council meetings and too much reliance on intergovernmental decision making. We have had two years when the Greek state was allowed to hang. While political witch doctors in so called creditor countries held their noses and wondered how they could be sure austerity measures would be put in place, while whatever economic life was left in Athens was choked to death.

Debt deal

If as I believe the resolution of this euro crisis will require some form of greater integration then it would be better for those parties who accept that way to show some example by starting to agree policy positions on a pan European basis. The Green parties across Europe have already been doing so and we have engaged in regular discussions with the German Greens on a common position on a new debt deal for Ireland.

Since last November the Greens in the Bundestag have called publicly for some form of mutual assistance to resolve the banking difficulties in Ireland and Spain. They have taken the politically difficult decision to vote with the Government on a series of programmes providing financial support to other European countries. Such cross-party support should have given the German Government the room it needed to stabilise the euro, but the opportunity was wasted due to a lack of decisive action from the Christian Democrats and a lack of shame on the part of the Liberals, who seem to have forgotten that it was an obsession with their free market economics that got everyone into trouble in the first place.

A further concern now is that the Social democrats (SPD) seem to be playing a nationalist card as elections draw near. On Thursday the 19th of July last their leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier made it clear that his party does not support the sort of banking measures that the Irish Government is looking for. In a debate on the allocation of funding to support Spanish banks he said:

The rescue of banks with the help of the ESM must not become a permanent solution. There will be no direct way from the rescue package for Spanish banks to a permanent recapitalisation of distressed banks, not with the Social Democrats.

Fourteen of his Party members voted against the support measures for Spain and he said that MPs in his ranks were “totally unconvinced” about such deals. He asked: “How many rescue packages are we actually going to need?” and stated “It cannot go on like this.”

It would be a tragedy if after four years of a broad blue-green-red coalition in the German parliament on the need to support European Union rescue and stability mechanisms, such a consensus fell apart when it comes to the crunch.

Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore are in a strong political position because they have the backing of every political party and every member of the Dail as they engage in negotiations with their European colleagues on particular new arrangements for Ireland. They will have to decide what is the best way to play their hand.

But I think it might be time to name and shame their Social and Christian Democrat colleagues who seems to have no regard for the fifty years of peaceful prosperity that the European Union has brought and seem willing – as Joschka Fischer fears – to bring Europe to ruin for the third time in a hundred years.

Eamon Ryan is the leader of the Green Party. You can follow him on Twitter at @EamonRyan.

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    Mute Colm McDonagh
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    Aug 13th 2012, 7:56 AM

    I was halfway through this article when it clicked who Eamon Ryan is. So then I stopped reading it.The greens pathetic clinging to power with the criminals of Fianna Fail is one of the reasons we’re in the mess we’re in. How you have the nerve to write about economics astounds me. Go away and hug a tree. Preferably far away.

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    Mute Ciaran Morgan
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:03 AM

    eamonn Ryan, either admit your significant part in the economic drstruction of Ireland or vanish from the face of the earth, either will do.

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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:35 AM

    What did trees ever do to you to deserve such treatment Colm? I :-D

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    Mute Petr Tarasov
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:38 AM

    Ryan had the gall to give a speech at Occupy Dame st. Bit like a Nazi speaking a holocaust memorial.

    The Greens have never faced up to what they did and apologise. I did not read a word of this article.

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    Mute Ryan Allen
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    Aug 13th 2012, 2:34 PM

    @ Petr: Your running away with the rhetoric a little bit by calling Ryan a Nazi.

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    Mute Petr Tarasov
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    Aug 14th 2012, 12:20 AM
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    Mute Mark Vieregge
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    Aug 13th 2012, 7:21 AM

    After the last referendum I personally believe ireland should stop moaning and just accept that it was their own stupid choice.
    Not Germany, not the ECB, not the IMF, but simply the Irish that agreed with this horrific deal…

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    Mute Rob
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:06 AM

    The Irish people never learn. They’re too afraid to vote change. As result, they re-elect the same right-wing corrupt parties.

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:44 AM

    You don’t have much respect for your countrymen/women.

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    Mute Ryan Allen
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    Aug 13th 2012, 2:31 PM

    Let alone respect for democracy. Funny how people don’t like it when the collective electorate votes for someone else.

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    Mute censored
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    Aug 13th 2012, 10:23 PM

    Why do we have to like it? We have to respect it, but it was a stupid supine decision and vote.

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    Mute Eric Davies
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    Aug 14th 2012, 12:42 PM

    the Irish people were lied to (yet again) by the government and its political cronies from ALL parties about the Fiscal Treaty/ Stability Mechanism referendum , the green party included, Germany is protecting its banks and wealthy citizens, the same as Ireland is doing. End of the day it is those who have the least that are being made to carry the biggest part of the economic burden of the Euro zone, whilst those in charge scamper round like headless chickens trying to find a solution to the problems. personally i think the only solution is to end the single currency, return to individual currencies and let the markets decide the value of each, there would of course have to be some form of ‘debt forgiveness’ or a cancellation of all non sovereign debt,( ie bank debt ) to allow currencies a chance to get up and running, the Euro / single currency was a good idea but badly thought out and implemented, controls on entry to the currency were too lax and this is what will ultimately lead to its downfall . As for our own problem ,the government Has to ensure more regulation and tighter control of the financial institutions and its own departments and at the same time bring in a much more transparent system with regards to senior civil servants, government appointees and public representatives pay and remuneration scales . Then and only then will the public start to trust the political system again.

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:11 AM

    Is the second half of this article missing? The title says we should take action, ie, “put pressure on Germany”, but the article itself is a blurry and not very accurate overview of the current German political situation. Absolutely nothing on how such pressure could be put on Germany. Boycotts on German imports? A refusal to do business with German customers and clients? Irish resident cannot vote in German elections, so being told who not to vote for is pointless. Please write a conclusion!

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    Mute Patrick Colm Devaney
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:01 AM

    Such muck from Mr. Ryan. One of the most media trained politicians there is out there.

    We’ve been going through a ”crucial” phase in this crisis for the last four years. If progress is going to come from anywhere, it’s the German MP’s. Not the spineless Irish politicians such as the writer of this article.

    It’s all in the Germans hands now – let the euro fail or let there be massive debt relief. I can only see the latter happening as the failure of the euro would be catastrophic in every way there is.

    But they will let this crisis to rumble on for as long as possible to squeeze every last possible cent out of the European taxpayer so they can maximise the money for the bondholders before they take a huge hit by allowing debt relief.

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    Mute Ryan Allen
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    Aug 13th 2012, 2:35 PM

    The funny thing is, if you’d read the article, is that he says what you said. That the German MPs now hold the power. So you agree with his muck!

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    Mute Patrick Colm Devaney
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    Aug 13th 2012, 6:03 PM

    @Ryan Allen

    I did read the article. But I wrote my comment in less grandiose writing, which just summarised what he said. Even Nobel prize winners are saying the German MP’s hold the power. The dog down the road knows that. But for Ryan to say we can pressure them is laughable. He’s only looking to capitalise on populism. He’s a brown noser. Like pretty much everyone in the Dáil.

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    Mute kingstown
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    Aug 13th 2012, 7:38 AM

    I think it’s time for Ireland to seriously reconsider forming a confederation with the UK. Europe is about to jettison us along with spain, Portugal, cyprus and Greece. It seems it eu idea is coming to an end

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    Mute Dermot Purcell
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:10 AM

    Eamon ryan you and the green party played a big part in the destruction of my country this is something i wish the people of this country never forget ,

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:14 AM

    What’s going to fail in the near future is an array of fiat currencies including the Euro, sterling and US dollar. The monetary dysfunction created by these currencies ( historically only used for short periods during national emergencies) is the source of this crisis.
    Ireland will find no refuge or stability by clinging to the UK. Britains economic problems are as acute as any European nations, while Britain is also making no meaningful progress to resolving these.

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Aug 13th 2012, 10:22 AM

    “So when the coalition government politicians promote the crisis in France, Spain and even Greece as examples of where the UK could be, know this that we are already there and don’t even know it as a consequence of the money printing smoke and mirrors inflation! In fact the truth is that the UK in terms of Debt to GDP (500%) is more indebted than either Spain (390%), Italy (320%) or France (360%) as a consequence of the bailout of the UK’s bankrupt giant banking sector that remains an ever present ready to explode weapon of mass financial destruction.

    It is clearly not sustainable to continue SPENDING money the country does not have, that inflates the debt mountain ever higher that pushes inflation ever higher because there is more money in circulation chasing the same goods and services. This IS how countries go bankrupt stealthily, well until the hyperinflation panic event. However, until that point in time all that the UK government is doing is to buy time. For what ? To get through to and win the next general election which is usually the primary objective of all governments.

    And, It is this which euro-zone politicians are seeking to replicate – the economic illusion that an Inflationary Depression brings along with it, for it allows politicians to point to countless statistics that give the illusion of economic stability that the general population tends to swallow despite the fact that their own personal experience suggests otherwise.”
    Market Oracle May 2012

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Aug 13th 2012, 10:44 AM

    Remember, historically debt to GDP normally only breaches 200% during times of war.
    Britain will only return to growth on the other side of an economic collapse as with the eurozone.

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    Mute censored
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    Aug 13th 2012, 10:24 PM

    Yeah right, because “confederation with the UK” has always worked so well for us…

    Sorry, there is no sugar daddy out there. We will just have to sort this out ourselves.

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    Mute Post Ireland
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:11 AM

    Eamon Ryan says:

    “You could ask the people which choice has the greater public support, but it is hard to think how you would frame the question let alone carry out a referendum in a practical and timely way. It will be the job of their democratic representatives to decide where the majority view lies”.

    This is a perfect example of the mentality of a petty tyrant. Completely go over the head of the people and make decisions WITHOUT referendums because the people are ‘too stupid to understand the complexities’ of the EU integration. It should really be called the EUSSR. No wonder support for the Green Party has dwindled. Most half-way intelligent people have woken up to the fact that underneath the GREEN is RED.

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    Mute Culm Carty
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:27 AM

    I heard over the weekend of a German Bank official who is getting a new company car. Nothing new until I found out she will not be using it. What she intends to do is give her company car to her husband. That’s right she will not even use her own company car. Why you ask? Well it’s simple she has 2 horses so needs a 4×4 to pull the horse box. So can somebody please tell me why we are containing to pay back the money that Anglo, AIB et al have lost so that German bank officials can give away their company cars to family members, while Irish people die while lying on hospital trolleys & Irish kids go without a proper education. To me this is corruption on a European scale.

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:33 AM

    Bit emotive here, so a bad example. If giving away government-paid cars is standard practise, then you have a point, but one person screwing the system says only that one person is unethical, not that all German politicians are unethical or that the system is broken. All black sheep are sheep, but it’s faulty logic to then say that all sheep are black sheep.

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    Mute Mark Vieregge
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:35 AM

    The answer is simple: because 65% of the voters said: Yes, we are willing to bend over.

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    Mute Colm McDonagh
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:42 AM

    Colm there are Irish bank officials still swanning around the globe in business class on expense accounts that would make the average Joe weep. Bank of Ireland still maintain corporate boxes at Old Trafford and the Emirates that I know of,there are doubtless others I’m sure. Oh yeah.,I nearly forgot Croke Park and the Aviva where the corporate boxes are still awash with Moet. The pigs are still at the trough and that snorting sound is their laughter…

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    Mute Ryan Allen
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    Aug 13th 2012, 2:40 PM

    “A German bank official” is very vague. Some banks in Germany lent to Irish banks, but not all. Without having any idea which bank she works for, no assumptions can be made. And even then you have no idea which part of the bank she works in. So it’s blame the Germans propaganda.

    Also as more is owed to UK banks than German ones, the focus for propaganda purposes would probably be better trained on those.

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    Mute Sean Brannigan
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:20 AM

    Written by Eammon Ryan…….only dawned on me half way through, it was this man who was in government when this country went belly up….Green party , yes they really stood up to bertie and co!!!!! power hungry is all they were and stood back while we were rail roaded. But thanks Eammon for the carbon tax!!! That was your true legacey…….it really worked too cause with the coldest winters and summers since records began your carbon tax has stopped global warming dead in its tracks!!!!!

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    Mute Bob McShane
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    Aug 14th 2012, 9:47 PM

    I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to Eamonn for the lightbulbs. And the bike lanes, they’re handy for cycling to the overflowing ER after accidently breaking one of the bulbs and breathing in the toxic dust contained within. Of course everything else is just peachy… Isn’t it? Huh, Eamonn?

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    Mute John Moriarty
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:39 AM

    Eamon
    you are out of power because of what happened while you shared the reins with FF. I don’t have a clue how you will get back in favour. This generation will prove to have a very long memory.

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    Mute Damocles
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:55 AM

    Nikolas has a point. The Irish electorate elect those who they hope will safeguard the interests of the Irish electorate, just as the German electorate elect those who they hope will safeguard the interests of the German electorate. If it’s in the interests of German to let Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal go to the wall they should do so.

    To expect anything else is rather infantile.

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    Mute Pierce2020
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:32 AM

    Germany already does a lot for Ireland, there are 300 German companies in Ireland which employ about 20,000 people. Germany also employs about 50,000 Irish people within it’s borders. German politicians should look after German interests and Irish politicians should look after Irish interests, maybe if you could have done that when you were in government we might not be in this mess.

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    Mute Marc Anthony Power
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:29 AM

    Politics is local……simples…..these national politicians don’t give a toss about us all they see is their bread being buttered for 4 more years

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    Aug 13th 2012, 8:40 AM

    But why should they care about us? German politicians are elected by German citizens to look after the interests of German citizens. That’s how it works. It doesn’t make them callous, evil and somehow wrong if they put the interests of the German people before the Irish, it only makes them competent at the job they’ve been elected to do. It is the mandate of our elected politicians to protect us. Place the blame where it deserves to be placed.

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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:52 AM

    Why should we listening to the Greens? They’re a busted flush. They sold themselves for a mess of pottage (in fairness like all small parties do when a coalition govt is needed) and were destroyed at the last election.

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    Mute Truthful Irish
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:28 AM

    Another wonderfully useless bs story to distract you. When will Irish Media start doing its job again ……..

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    Mute Truthful Irish
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    Aug 13th 2012, 10:33 AM

    Why should you listen to any party big or small ? They all follow the same path. FF FG , both apposed but both did and will continue to do the same thing. Pay the banks, give themselves a pay rise, cut the welfare, increase foreign aid, or agree to some obscure ESM charity to banks , close hospitals and schools …………. maybe we need to ask the real question …. considering our government dont even sit in the chamber 50% of the year and we pay them so lavishly ….. do we actually and honestly need a government ? If they went on strike would you give a shit ?

    Bout time this outlet started doing some real reporting. Im sick and tired of tender story telling. Do your job. Tell the real news.

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:40 AM

    Ryan is dishonest as the rest of the political establishment. The fact is no politican or government has a solution to this crisis.
    Governments and politicans excel at raising funds through taxation and/or borrowing. Banning, regulating or subsidising various activities as they see fit. The problem is they have no skills or abilities to tackle a debt crisis as borrowing, taxation, banning or regulating will not resolve it.
    The only way to begin to solve the crisis is for politicans and government to remove itself as much as possible from the economy, allow defaults and the purging of debt. Only then will growth return.

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    Mute Lizzy Anne
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    Aug 14th 2012, 1:07 AM

    Eamon Ryan is hoping we have all lost our memory. He and his party engineered us borrowing the money lender style ‘deal’ to pay off the debts of banks, developers and the super rich. The greens are finished. We need to get the reds into power.

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    Mute Don Morgan
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:49 AM

    Frank Walter Steinmeier is not the leader of the social democrats. he leads the party faction in the bundestag. the leader is sigmar gabriel. Gabriel last week proposed pooling the debt of countries such as Ireland, Spain and Greece. furthermore bringing Europe to ruin for the third time in a century is an extreme analogy beneath Eamon’s intelligence and integrity. the euro crisis has put considerable strain on the political classes in Germany and german backbenchers are currently fighting to hold Merkel to account for her actions.

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    Mute Daisy Chainsaw
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    Aug 15th 2012, 6:07 PM

    Wow Eamon, totally awesome peice of advice.. No really! Amazingly insightful stuff. ::Applauds::

    Pity you were too busy, 4 years ago, protecting your ministerial pension to bring it up then, eh. Might have stopped the FUBAR we’re stuck with now.

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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Aug 14th 2012, 5:52 PM

    He might as well have an opinion piece headed ‘I think every household in Ireland should get a billion quid each’, populist dribble from a failed politician, on yer bike Ryan

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    Mute Paul
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    Aug 13th 2012, 5:43 PM

    I yearn for the olympics when I didnt have to think about this crap *Sigh*

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    Mute Ru Ni Digs
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    Aug 13th 2012, 5:45 PM

    Censorship is getting awful on this site again.Freedom of speech ??? yeah right!!!

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    Mute ooceallaigh
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    Aug 16th 2012, 9:52 PM

    At least Bertie has the decency to just trouser his pensions and leave us in peace. Apparently Eamonn thinks he can still be friends with the people he royally screwed.

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    Mute Mike Hall
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    Aug 14th 2012, 4:15 PM

    Eamon Ryan

    Unfortunately, it seems you & the European Greens are still thinking inside the neo-liberal failed economics paradigm.

    Until you properly understand the functioning of banking & the monetary system & the empirically validated truth of the macro economics that flow from that, you are helping neither the ordinary citizens nor the realisation of the sustainable future we require. You are in fact STILL HINDERING both issues.

    Please make the effort to study the correct understanding offered by MMT. (Particularly, read Profs Bill Mitchell & Randall Wray)

    I will be pleased to help you if you wish – you know who I am & how to contact me.

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    Mute Sean Brannigan
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    Aug 13th 2012, 9:40 AM
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