While Ireland’s economic collapse continues unabated, more and more implausible and counterproductive solutions become reality. Over the course of two years, several bailout packages have increased public sector external debt (that owed to creditors outside the country) to 1,305 percent of GDP.
The latest bailout will put every Irish man, woman and child on the hook for an additional €20,000, regardless of whether they lent a “helping” hand to produce such an imbalanced state of affairs. While the morality of indebting innocent citizens to save culpable bankers is questionable, it may be time to reassess if there was a better roadmap to recovery that the Irish could have followed.
