Economic & Business
Enda on the debt – Bill on Kennier
Enda was much nearer the mark in Davos than the blanket absolution
for the state of the country that he gave the Irish people in his
address to the nation on TV.
Fine Gael on Enda and the Davos remarks. My take to follow
Taoiseach’s comments in Davos:
Here is a direct quote from the Taoiseach in Davos yesterday:
“The extent of personal credit, personal wealth created on credit, was
done between people and banks – a system that spawned greed to a point
where it just went out of control completely with a spectacular
crash.”
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Oh Yeh, Enda??
In Davos, Mr Kenny was optimistic that growing financial market
confidence in Ireland was spreading. He said the positive market
reaction to Wednesday’s €3.5 billion bond swap was a “small step”
towards financial independence after 2013.
But US economist Joseph Stiglitz described ongoing Irish payments to
unsecured bondholders as “unconscionable. Why should Irish taxpayers
have to give up health and education to make good on a loan from a
private bank?” Prof Stiglitz said in an interview with The Irish
Times.
Mr Kenny said the Nobel prize -winning economist was a “very important
personality, but politicians have to make decisions and commentators
comment. We are not heading down the road of looking for debt
write-downs or default,” he said.
Wrike – Project Management
Irish Bond Sale – National Treasury Management Agency on the ball.
PRIVATE INVESTORS bought Irish Government bonds yesterday for the
first time since September 2010. The National Treasury Management
Agency sold just over €3.5 billion worth of three-year debt.
The new bonds were offered to investors holding €11.8 billion of
outstanding bonds maturing in two years. The fact that about one-third
of those investors agreed to the “switch” to longer-dated bonds
“demonstrated investor appetite for Irish Government paper and will
support our plans for a phased re-entry to long-term debt markets”,
the NTMA said.
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UK debt
America overcomes the debt crisis as Britain sinks deeper into the swamp
Britain has sunk deeper into debt. Three years after bubble burst, the
UK has barely begun to tackle the crushing burden left by Gordon
Brown. The contrast with the United States is frankly shocking.
I
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International business editor
8:33PM GMT 22 Jan 2012
O’Leary: Noonan is dead right – “I am always right”
By Evelyn Ring
Saturday, January 21, 2012
RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary has defended Finance Minister Michael
Noonan, who is under fire for suggesting people were leaving Irel-and
as a “lifestyle choice”.
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Question for Emmet Oliver – When is one Euro not the same as another?
In Business Week in the Irish Indo, Emmet Oliver reports “Ireland
could become really addicted to the abilout cash”.
Emmet, it is remarkable that John Corrigan of the National Treasury
Management Agency would contemplate entering the bond market and
buying credit at 6 – 7% when credit is available from official sources
like the European Financial Stability Fund at 3.5% or thereabouts.
Michael Noonan and Enda kenny can say what they like about second
bailouts but my view is that they have a responsibility to get the
cheapest money possible.
Money is money. The people of Ireland are unlikely to get into a sweat
about where the money comes from once things are funded.
US healthcare executives hit pay jackpot – Evening Herald please note
BMJ 2011; 343 doi: 10.1136/bmj.d8330 (Published 29 December 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d8330
Janice Hopkins Tanne
Author Affiliations
Healthcare and pharmaceutical executives were four of the top 10 best paid executives in the United States in 2010, according to a report by GMI, an independent research firm that surveyed more than 2600 companies.
Pay for chief executives increased by 27% in 2010, the firm said. No bankers were on the top 10 list. Take home pay, the amount executives pay tax on, included annual compensation, increases in pension plans, profits from exercising stock options, and some other benefits, GMI said.
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