Leadership at last but three years too late
Notwithstanding electoral peril, the body politic is shifting towards sanity. It’s official. We are depending on the kindness of strangers. Since the bailout, our external reputation matters most. There are emerging reasons to be hopeful beyond 2011. The causes of our catastrophe, cowardly and incompetent politics, may be receding.
A lot of baloney has appeared about our bailout. Apparently, we should have got a lower rate than 5.83%; have declined the credit; threatened to torpedo the euro, thereby fanning the flames of contagion to other PIIGS states. Allegedly, we bent the knee to bondholders. This analysis is wholly unrealistic. Our negotiating position carried all the threat of a dead sheep. The problems of the euro require a resolution that focuses on rectifying the divergent economic performances between peripheral states and Germany.
