Budget 2014 – the Socialist approach

The question of banks writing off mortgage debt of householders unable to pay has hit the headlines in the past weeks. Bank of Ireland, AIB and Bank of Scotland have stated they are considering some form of debt write-off.  Ireland’s debt crisis is a major burden on the banks and the Irish economy. As part of their recent bank stress test the Central Bank estimated €9.5 billion in bad mortgage debts in the Irish banks between now and 2013. The high level of personal debt is adding to the economy’s deflationary spiral.

Dave Murray, Socialist Party England and Wales, reviews the new "It's time to take over the banks" FBU pamphlet by Michael Roberts and Mick Brooks. Introduction by Matt Wrack, general secretary, FBU. Available online at www.fbu.org.uk

Warnings of a currency war dominated the summit of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington this weekend. The cooperation between global politicians, like when the economy plummeted in 2008, is dissolving. Many governments are devaluing their currencies in order to increase exports, thereby increasing contradictions and risking new economic downturns. The meeting, however, ended in a fiasco, with a statement void of content the only result. Below are two articles, on the world economy and on the currency wars.

Recently engaged in a round of backslapping, the leaders of Europe suggested that we were turning the corner out of the crisis. In Ireland despite all the evidence to the contrary, the government is still trying to talk up the prospect of a ‘deal’ on the bank debt. But on the ground, the crisis is worsening, austerity is destroying people’s lives and the economies of Europe. In the first of two articles on the future of the EU, first published on Irish Left Review, Paul Murphy MEP examines the immediate prospects for the eurozone crisis in the next months.