FinancialEdge: The Story Behind The Irish Meltdown

Ireland just cannot seem to catch a break. There is a long thread of tragedy and melancholy that runs through Ireland's history, and recent economic developments would seem to suggest that the more things change, the more they stay the same. For now, the country once known as the Celtic Tiger is facing hard times once again and prosperity seems a long way away. (For related reading, take a look at Why U.S. Investors Should Care About "PIGS".)

The Irish Miracle
Ireland does not have a long history of economic success. Economists and historians still argue about the reasons why, but Ireland never really participated in the industrial revolution, and the well-known famine in the 1800s began a pace of mass migration that lasted more than 100 years. Simply put, Ireland spent much of the 20th century as a relatively poor (at least by Western European standards), largely agricultural country with a large public sector and heavy state involvement in the economy.

All of that started to change in the 1990s. The national government reduced its direct involvement in the economy, brokered social partnerships between business, unions and itself, significantly cut corporate taxes, and actively encouraged export-focused industry. The result was nothing short of remarkable - Ireland produced GDP growth on par with Asian growth stars like South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, unemployment fell, and the government found itself able to invest in social services like education and infrastructure.


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FinancialEdge: Santa's Financial Naughty List For 2010

It looks like it is time once again for St. Nick to tally up the good and bad for the year. While there are some financial folks who belong on the "nice" list (maybe the billionaires who publicly pledged to make sizable bequests?), there is no doubt that the "naughty" list on Wall Street is always quite a bit longer. (For more holiday related reading, check out Top Holiday Budget Busters.)

Then again, maybe the naughty boys and girls on this list should take some cheer from their inclusion - because of their own actions, commodities like lumps of coal are worth more than they have been in a while!

PIGS
While the European sovereign debt crisis undoubtedly stretches back to 2008 (if not earlier), it really heated up early in 2010. Greece was already something of a basket case, but the news kept getting worse, culminating in an international bailout in early May. Amidst all the worries about whether Greece would single-handedly sink a major bank or two, worries began to bubble up that Spain and Portugal would soon be in similar straits. Although Spain and Portugal seem relatively stable for now, Ireland brings the year to a close with its own prolonged financial difficulties and bailout.

There is no shortage of names that can go down on Santa's black list for this one. National governments lied to each other and their citizens about the state of their economies, and then gorged on cheap external debt to fund public largess. Of course, the banks who bought the debt also bought the lie(s) or assumed that they could pass the buck on to the public in the form of bailouts if things went south. Last and not least, some of the citizens of these countries themselves should earn a spot on the list for protesting and demonstrating against their governments for daring to actually try to put themselves on a paying, solvent basis and cutting some of these debt-fueled freebies. (For more, check out How Countries Deal With Debt.)


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