Recent Central Bank figures on mortgage arrears reveal an enormous crisis brewing. With all of the focus on the hundreds of austerity measures this government are implementing, the relentless rise in mortgage arrears numbers has, so far, not gotten the attention it deserves.
As their system continues to slide into its worst crisis since the 1930s, the frantic efforts of world capitalist leaders to reverse the process are farcical, contradictory and ineffective. “Is anyone in control? Is this a runaway train?” asked a presenter on a British news programme on Monday evening - the day Wall Street crashed by 6% and markets everywhere plummeted.
A sum of money the size of the US and Japanese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) together is being held in offshore tax havens. This enormous hoard could immediately pay off most of the deficits and debt that are being used to justify austerity, and create millions of jobs. Instead it sits in places like the Cayman Islands, making the tax dodgers that put it there even richer.
With the government preparing to milk the 15 December 'exit' from the bailout, hyperbole is being heaped upon hyperbole to welcome the 'return of sovereignty' to Ireland. The government, and in particular the Labour Party, want to use this supposed success story and the good mood it creates to carry them through the difficult local and European elections next May. What is the reality of this 'exit' and the true state of democratic control by people in Ireland over economic and other policies?
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