Exactly which corner have we turned Mr Lenihan? During last December’s budget speech Brian Lenihan said that the worst was over.
Mr Lenihan and the whole government should be kicked out now in disgrace. The very cuts they said would lead to recovery are causing the economy to collapse again.
On top of that, the banks’ losses, particularly those of Anglo, are much worse than they said. Now, not only will taxpayers put billions more into the banks, we will have to pay more in interest repayments just for the pleasure, as the bondholder profiteers rob us twice.
This government must go! But so too must this market madness of trying to solve a capitalist crisis by more capitalism! How is it possible to solve a crisis caused by profiteering by giving more of our hard earned money to the very same profiteers.
Fianna Fail and Green Party are hatching plans to impose even deeper cuts in this December’s budget. More austerity cuts will turn Ireland into an economic wasteland and the poverty conditions of the 1930s and 1950s will return for many.
But the government doesn’t care. Yes the bankers at Anglo borrowed to beat the band. Yes they and their builder pals then used the cash to stoke up the mother of all property bubbles. That’s all established but now that it’s all burst apart, it is ordinary working class people, who didn’t borrow and didn’t benefit who must pay the debts for years to come! Why is this the case? Because if the bondholders aren’t paid back they’ll use their power and control of capital to destroy the economy again!
Interviewed by Pat Kenny, Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins said that when he contacted Anglo Irish Bank and asked them who were the bondholders they owed the money to, Anglo said the bondholders couldn’t be identified.
These are faceless parasites, phantoms hiding behind brokers and agencies. We are living in an economic dictatorship where millions are going to be condemned to poverty so the rich can get richer and we’re meant to hope that they throw us a few crumbs! This is the blackmail of the poor and it must be rejected.
We shouldn’t be too surprised that the so-called opposition of Labour and Fine Gael have said that when they take over, they will impose similar draconian cuts so that the same faceless bondholders will get their pound of flesh.
What is even worse is that the trade union leaders refuse to lift a finger to prevent this disaster. They must be challenged to either fight the austerity programme or be thrown aside. Token protests, limited actions and rhetoric are of no use anymore.
Workers and communities must come together and from below, organise mass mobilisations against December’s budget which is set to be the biggest attack on the working class in the history of the state.
Workers and young people have the power but we need to get organised and fight for a real alternative. Kick this government out. Don’t pay €70 billion plus to the bondholders. Instead close Anglo now and take over the other banks and use the resources to implement socialist policies to create decent jobs and opportunities for all.
