Once upon a time there
was a shiny new currency launched in Europe, the euro. Unfortunately however it
was a flawed
currency, structurally incomplete, no central control, the seeds of its own destruction inbuilt.
Initially all seemed fine and
money flooded from the wealthier nations to the poorer. Over time, as the
increasing profits returned to those wealthy countries the flood became a tidal
wave and the economies of several ‘borrower’ countries were swamped.
Increasingly it began to look as
though all of Europe itself would be engulfed and in 2010 a plan was hatched; backed
by Promissory Notes from its government, little Ireland – in the front line –
would print an extra €31bn to give to two of its most toxic banks, Anglo Irish and
Irish Nationwide, who in turn would pass it on to its big-bank European creditors,
thus staving off a much bigger crisis – probably the failure of the euro itself
– were those two banks to fall.
The plan worked, the European banks
were saved, and after more remedial measures taken in the following years, the
new currency still survives.
HURRAH, SAVED!
What was Ireland’s reward for
taking this stand?
Now safe and secure in their castle in Brussels and
notwithstanding their own gross negligence in the oversight of the new currency
and the damage it was causing, the King of Europe and his Council decided that Ireland
needed punishment for its lack of control over its own banks. So they insisted
that Ireland now had to take that extra €31bn its Central Bank had printed back
out of circulation.
Not alone did Ireland not have
this money, it had a growing national debt so – naturally – there was outrage.
Few were more eloquent in
their condemnation of what the King of Europe and his bank in Frankfurt
were asking than Michael Noonan, one of the leaders of the main opposition
party in the national parliament and in February 2011 the Irish people
revolted, threw out the existing government and replaced them with these new
heroes, who promised to take Ireland’s fight to Europe.
After the very first engagement
however this new Irish leadership lost its courage and in almost its first act
of government, borrowed the €3bn first instalment of the €31bn Promissory Notes
debt and promptly destroyed the money – that was March 31st 2011.
Since then they have compounded
that act of cowardice with an act of betrayal, rearranging the Promissory Notes
repayment structure such that the burden is lifted from themselves in the
remaining years of their government, and transferred to future generations – 40
years of debt slavery for the remaining €28bn, the Promissory Notes now
transposed to sovereign bonds that will ultimately cost us more than €70bn.
And we all lived happily ever
after.
MAYBE NOT…
Okay, I made up the last line. Everything
else is true.
This year our Central Bank is
scheduled to sell the first of the Promissory Note bonds, €500m. What happens
those five hundred million euro? Destroyed, taken out of circulation. Next
year, another €500m – borrowed, destroyed. The same in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Then it gets worse.
Every year for the following five
years, 2019/20/21/22/23, that figure doubles - €1,000m/yr, borrowed and
destroyed.
Then it gets worse again. Eight
further years, 2024-31 (inclusive), the Central Bank will take in €2,000m/yr,
and destroy every penny.
In 2032 the borrowing and destruction
ends, a €1,500m bond sold; that’s €25bn in all, to go with the €3bn bond from
2012 also currently held and awaiting sale by the Central Bank – a total of
€28bn.
Immediately those bonds are sold
we start paying interest on them, just under 3%/annum. Then, starting in 2038,
whoever is in the Central Bank starts paying back the principal sums of those
bonds until in 2053, the final payment - €5bn.
Debt-slaves to Europe, that’s our
reward for bailing out those European big-bank creditors of two zombie banks,
our reward for bailing out the euro.
TOO LATE? DON’T BELIEVE THEM!
We can stop it of course, if we
have the will and the courage. Just as we are now showing our teeth on the
water tax – one of far too many taxes and cuts imposed on us in the last five
years, largely the result of the launch of this ill-designed currency – we can
force a reversal of that Promissory Note ‘deal’ by Michael Noonan and demand
the final destruction of those bonds now held by the Central Bank.
In Ballyhea and Charleville we’ve
been campaigning against this injustice for over three years, joined since then
by the likes of Ratoath and Dublin, a few small pebbles in the King’s shoe.
Well, jack-boot, more like, boots that have been kicking us while we were down.
Time we stood up, time we hit back.
