Kicking debt down road offers hope

The promissory note deal, which was a wonderful coup for the Government, is also a blueprint for getting rid of most of the impossible debt that hamstrings economies and individuals. It is as near “default” or “debt forgiveness” as it is possible to get without using either of the dreaded expressions.

Kicking debt into the indefinite future is akin to cancelling it in immediate terms and confining payments to “interest only”, which because growth prospects into the indefinite future will be minimal is probably manageable. In extreme cases interest could be deferred and added to the “principal” for payment in the indefinite future.

When that “future” arrives the whole procedure can be repeated pushing the “debit date” as far forward again as satisfies the monetary moguls and in the meantime giving economies and Individuals the relief to get on with their lives.

This solution should be categorised as amongst the greatest of “imaginative accounting” feats ever; a solution that fudges over all the rules it purports to uphold, but works and brings relief to millions. It should also provide time for the economic and political theorists to really find out what is the matter with modern economics and realise that this is not a recession but the dawning of a new age of prosperity.

Padraic Neary

Tubbercurry

Co Sligo