At least we’re not alone in our financial woes
From Ireland’s perspective there is some comfort to be gleaned from the realisation that we are not alone. Our crisis is bad, indeed very bad, but Portugal, Greece and Spain are not light years behind us. In some respects, Ireland is in a stronger position in the sense that we have a more diversified economy than the others, with the multinational sector standing out in particular. The key problem for Ireland is that we have massive private sector debt, steadily escalating government debt and a dysfunctional banking system that is effectively bankrupt but for the generosity of the European Central Bank.
Ireland is now centre stage in a mounting crisis for the eurozone. The whole eurozone project is creaking at the edges and is now being steadily exposed for the flawed structure that it is. Imposing a single interest rate on a range of very diverse economies, without political and fiscal union was a recipe for disaster.
