Madam, – You have to feel for the Government. It slashes budgets, pours good money into bad banks, takes possession of unwanted development sites and squeezes workers until the pips squeak – all to satisfy what it imagines to be the requirements of international credit-rating agencies. Yet these faceless arbiters of lending are unimpressed.
They seem to think the cuts are only depressing the economy, that the bank bail-outs are propping up lame ducks, and that these development sites are worthless until proven otherwise. Sure, what would they know? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The recent downgrade our country has received from the Standard and Poor’s credit rating agency (Business Today, August 25th) should come as little surprise. The concerns regarding the ever-increasing costs of bank recapitalisation cited in the accompanying statement is an issue that has been steadily growing in stature.
It is disheartening to observe the constant revisions to the initial projected costs of propping up Anglo Irish Bank and other flailing financial institutions while simultaneously our national debt climbs and budgetary-based austerity measures continue to weigh on all elements of society. While errors in calculation are certainly not unusual, the vast disparity between the original and current estimates of bailing out in particular Anglo Irish leads one to wonder whether the continuous drip feed of mounting costs derives from miscalculation or orchestration. – Yours, etc,