No Kidding

From Friday’s Irish Examiner:

On Friday, the Chief returning officer, Riona Ni Flanghaile, declared the official national result of the Fiscal Treaty referendum at Dublin Castle. The treaty was carried by a ratio of roughly 60% to 40%, with 955,091 in favour of the treaty and 629,088 against it. The total number of votes cast was 1,591,385 with7,206 invalid votes leaving 1,584,179 valid votes.

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said today’s vote amounted to Ireland giving up its own independence. "The Irish political class has continued to persuade the people of Ireland to give up their hard-fought and short-lived independence," he said.

Ireland passes Fiscal Treaty, Irish Examiner, Friday, June 1st, 2012, 3:31 pm -http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/ireland-passes-fiscal-treaty-553836.html

The job losses, which the company says are part of a cost containment programme aimed at tackling a deficit of €45.3m, represent almost 11% of the company’s workforce. Staff face cuts in sick leave entitlements, subsistence allowances, and overtime.

Since 2002, staff numbers have fallen by a third to 4,100. The company recently opened a voluntary severance scheme aimed at securing 450 redundancies over the next 4 years, RTE states that Irish Rail can’t yet “quantify” what savings those job losses will deliver.

Unions and management have already agreed a package of further measures aimed at delivering another €12m in savings. They include changes to pension arrangements, overtime, annual leave, uncertified sick leave, and subsistence rates.

450 job losses announced at Iarnród Éireann, RTE News, Friday, 1 June 2012 -http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0601/450-job-losses-announced-at-iarnrod-eireann.html#article

IT – “Manufacturing activity gained pace in May, as output and new orders rose, and employment continued to expand. The NCB manufacturing Purchasing Manufacturers Index, which provides a measure of the health of the sector, climbed to 51.2 in May, following April’s reading of 50.1. Output for the month reached 51, compared with April’s 48.7, and was the third rise in the past four months.

New orders were 51.1, the fourth increase in a row, with export orders remaining solid at 52.9 despite growth slowing.  Employment showed a rise for the third consecutive month, expanding to 54.4. "Increased workloads encouraged companies to take on extra staff, and the rate of job creation was solid during the month," the report said. Central Statistics Office data showed there was a 2.4 per cent increase in industrial employment in the final quarter of 2011.”

The report concludes by asserting (quoting NCB) that this employment trend employment trend has continued into 2012.

Manufacturing activity rises, Irish Times, Friday, June 1, 2012 – http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0601/breaking4.htm

Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has advised Irish voters to vote No in Thursday’s referendum on the Fiscal Compact. “I’ve thought about it, it’s hard. I would say vote No,” he said on BBC Radio 4 this morning. Krugman dismissed the suggestion that a No vote would anger Germany and see Ireland cut off from bailout funds or from the Eurozone.

“At this point the Germans need to face the reality that this cannot work and that the Irish, who’ve been such good soldiers in this crisis, if even the Irish say no then that would actually send a helpful message,” he said. Krugman said that austerity is a “deeply destructive policy” which is “failing dismally”. He blamed the vanity of politicians for pursuing a policy which he said is not working.

Full Article:

Paul Krugman says Irish voters should vote No, Journal.ie, May 30th, 2012 -

http://www.thejournal.ie/paul-krugman-says-irish-voters-should-vote-no-468368-May2012/

"We are very happy with the price secured for the asset," Brendan McDonagh, CEO, NAMA.

Source: Irish Examiner -

The Central Bank has officially bought the half-finished headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank.
A price was agreed between Central Bank bosses and state-run "bad bank" the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) which took ownership of the eight-storey empty shell after the Anglo bailout in 2009.
Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh said the organisation was delighted with the sale, understood to be valued at around 7 million euro (£5.6m).
The sealed-off site where the skeletal building stands at Dublin’s North Wall Quay was once valued at 250 million euro but Nama put it on the market for between 8 and 10 million euro (between £6.4m and £8m).

Central Bank agrees to buy proposed Anglo Irish Bank HQ site, Irish Examiner, Thursday, May 31, 2012 – http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/central-bank-agrees-to-buy-proposed-anglo-irish-bank-hq-site-553705.html

Source: WSWS – Fears that the euro zone is nearing breakup sent panicked investors to safe haven assets Wednesday, driving the yields on US government debt to their lowest levels since 1946. Investors fled from Spanish and Italian bonds after the European Central Bank made clear that it would now allow Spain to tap its financing to recapitalize Bankia, the country’s fourth-largest bank, which last week requested a €19 billion bailout from the Spanish government.

In response to the ECB’s statement, the Spanish government announced it would raise an additional €19 billion to bail out the bank. Yields on Spanish 10-year bonds shot up 0.23 percentage points to 6.64 percent, bringing the country dangerously close to the 7.0 percent rates that forced Greece and Portugal to request bailouts from the European Union.

Spanish banking crisis roils global financial markets, by Andre Damon, World Socialist Website, 31st May 2012 – http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/euro-m31.shtml

 Temple of Hephaestus. Photo by Scott Ware. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_of_Hephaestus.jpg

World Socialist Website:

“Under the title “Europe’s Shame,” the 84-year-old author devotes twelve stanzas, each with two verses, to castigating the European elites for their treatment of Greece. Written in ancient Greek metrics, the poem portrays the manner in which the finance markets and European governments are destroying the country and its rich history. The first verse accuses the EU of bringing the country: “Close to chaos, because the market is not just, you’re far removed from the country which was your cradle.”

In this connection Grass refers to the austerity measures dictated by the EU which have resulted in wage cuts of up to 60 percent, an official youth unemployment rate of over 50 percent, mass starvation, and social despair. The social rights of workers have been systematically destroyed in order to rescue the loans of the international banks and increase corporate profits.”

Germany: Günter Grass criticizes EU’s treatment of Greece, by Christoph Dreier, World Socialist Website, 31st May 2012 – http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/gras-m31.shtml

World Socialist Website - “According to a report in the news magazine Der Spiegel, the chancellery in Berlin has drawn up a six-point plan for far-reaching “structural reforms” in Greece and other highly indebted European Union countries. The plan includes the sale of state enterprises, the gutting of employment protection rights, the promotion of a low-wage labor sector, the removal of constraints on businesses, and the establishment of special economic zones and privatization agencies modeled on the German Treuhand.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert has not confirmed the plan, but neither has he denied it. According to Der Spiegel, it will form the basis for negotiations at the European Union’s so-called “growth summit” in late June. Der Spiegel writes that Chancellor Angela Merkel will seize on the call for a growth policy by newly elected French President Francois Hollande, “applying the principle of judo fighters: employing the momentum of the opponent to mount one’s own attack.”

If Merkel gets her way, “growth” will be achieved entirely through the intensified exploitation of workers and not through any plan for economic revival or increased social expenditures. She assumes Hollande will be open to these proposals since the EU summit will take place after the June 17 French parliamentary elections and the new French president will no longer be constrained by voters’ opinions or his own campaign promises.”

Germany’s six-point plan for sweatshop Europe, World Socialist Website,
30th May 2012 – http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/pers-m30.shtml

WSWS - “The policy of “fiscal discipline” is a euphemism for a social counterrevolution in which the wages, living standards, labour protections and welfare provisions won in bitter class struggles are overturned to fund massive bailouts for the banks and drive up corporate profits.

The true character of the European Union is now plain for all to see. An institution that for decades was proclaimed to be a means for overcoming national divisions and creating a “social Europe” is revealed to be an instrument of the banks and big business for waging class war against working people.

Greece makes clear that there is no end to the rapacious demands of the financial oligarchy. For five years workers have been subjected to austerity measures that have pauperised millions while only deepening the economic crisis. Growing popular opposition to these measures was reflected in last month’s elections, which saw the collapse of support for the traditional ruling parties, PASOK and New Democracy, with the result that no stable government could be formed.”

From: Vote “No” in Ireland’s referendum on EU fiscal treaty /
Statement of the Socialist Equality Parties (UK and Germany)
30th May 2012, World Socialist Website -

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/refe-m30.shtml

The Central Bank has ordered Bloxham stockbrokers to cease all activities following the discovery of "financial irregularities" at the securities firm. Bloxham has agreed to transfer its asset management business to Ireland’s largest stockbroker Davy, which in March 2012 announced it had also acquired Bloxham’s private client business.

In a statement, Bloxham said the issues, discovered late last week and reported to the Central Bank on Thursday, related to overstating of income over a number of years. It is understood the practice occurred in four of the last five years.

"The financial partner of the firm was immediately suspended and the Central Bank informed," Bloxham said. "On foot of their initial investigations, the remaining partners in the firm, who were unaware of these issues, have asked a firm of forensic accountants to verify the position and assist in further investigations."

Bloxham Stockbrokers are the oldest Irish stockbroking firm and are members of both the Irish and London Stock Exchanges. In a statement, Bloxham said the issues, discovered late last week (25th May 2012) and reported to the Central Bank on Thursday 24th May, related to overstating of income over a number of years. It is understood the practice occurred in four of the years 2007-2012.

According to Wikipedia: Davy Stockbrokers have in the past attracted criticism for “continually writing glowing reports about its largest client and former owner Bank of Ireland by always setting price targets about the current market price. In February 2008 with the price at €9.59 it wrote "A low risk balance sheet and cheap valuation provide a safe place to hide…This is a low risk bank." 13 months later the price was at €0.12.”

Wikipedia: “Davy invested on behalf of its clients €411 million to purchase the Irish Glass Bottle Site, in Ringsend, Dublin, in 2006, wrote off €452.8 million in its 2008 financial year. The 25-acre site, which is the company’s sole asset, was given a valuation of €50 million in the accounts.”

It will be interesting to see what further revelations will follow.