Update, The Irish not supine!

So the Irish threw out one government that was for giving in to the banksters and put in another that gave in to the banksters.  For all appearances, it looked like the Paddy just gives in.  That was the import of yesterday's post.

Well, today an article in the new York Times says it all in the headline, Half of Irish Homeowners Join Boycott of New Property Tax.  The Times quotes an Irish member of the Dail,  

“It is quite clear a mass boycott has really sent this government a significant message it didn’t want to hear,” Luke Flanagan, one of the parliamentary deputies leading the opposition to the new household charge, said in an interview on Monday. “When we started this campaign, even 25 percent support translating to several hundred thousand would have been phenomenal, but we estimate over a million people eligible to pay this tax have refused.”

It took a while, and of course the powers that be are no help, but at least a significant portion of the Irish have wised up.

I don't mean to be to critical of the people I share DNA with.  It is much easier to rebel and win against a foreign occupier than to resist the bureaucracy.

Wise up Ireland

So here you are, the poster boy, er poster country for doing the responsible thing. The responsible thing being letting the common folk suffer for the sins of stupid bankers and stupid investors. The Irish people know that if they don’t do the right thing, it will be the end of the world as we know it, again.

 What if you’re asked to do the right thing again? It appears Mr. and Mrs. Average Irish Citizen, you are going to asked again. According to your paper of record, The Irish Times, you may need a new bailout. That’s semi-officialese for you will need another bailout. Anybody surprised. In Les Temps, a Mr. Butler (some association with the Bank Of England) says it’s going to be a great deal. For more money you go from a 6% to 3% interest. It sounds like the debate in that circus called the US congress about the interest rate on student loans, somehow, it don’t make no diff. If you majored in the post modern novel, you ain’t paying it back at 1% or a zillion.

Rather than taking Bailout Part Deux, there is only one word I have for the land of my ancestors, Iceland. Could be wrong there, but since they told the bankers to go fry ice (a subject in their clime they might know something about) they have not sunk beneath the waves.

If you give in now, your are, the phrase au courant here in the new world is “kicking the can down the road.” Eventually it will be bailout 98. Moi, I doubt it will get to that. Some country braver and not smart enough to be completely stupid will say go to hell. The Greeks are a bet.

 According to most Irishmen,I’m a Yank. According to most Americans, due to my Mick surname, I’m Irish. I’ve affection for the land of my ancestors and hardly wish to see it suffer. Yup, there will be suffering no matter which course. If you give in, the suffering will be ongoing. If you say no, you take the medicine, suffer and get up and move on.

Do you really believe Brian Hayes when he knocks on your door?