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From the parent article: > A political investigative blog called Guido Fawkes somehow obtained a list of the Anglo Irish foreign bondholders: German banks, Fre

From the parent article: > A political investigative blog called Guido Fawkes somehow obtained a list of the Anglo Irish foreign bondholders: German banks, French banks, German investment funds, Goldman Sachs. (Yes! Even the Irish did their bit for Goldman.) Germany wanted to protect their own banks(/ers) and investment funds from losing money to the detriment and disregard of everyone and everything else.

dageshi 7y ago
Yes, but also, the euro simply wasn't designed to handle the magnitude of what was happening in the financial crisis, it didn't have a central bank capable and government capable of stepping in to support the banks the way the FED did in the US. In other words, they were trying to prevent pure unmitigated chaos, the kind of chaos that leads to outright depressions. This crisis was only 10 years ago and already people seem to forget just how bad it was.
- purple_ducks 7y ago
  That's unrelated. My point was the Irish government could have burned the bondholders (German/French banks) and let the losses hit their profits instead of piling the Irish taxpayers under a mountain of (private) debt.
  - dageshi 7y ago
    It isn't unrelated, it is entirely the point. The Irish don't have their own currency, when you don't have your own currency you don't ultimately control your own affairs you share them with the others who use that currency.
    - purple_ducks 7y ago
      How would the burning of private bondholders to the tune of €140 billion have affected the Euro currency? > you don't ultimately control your own affairs you share them with the others who use that currency The currency had nothing to do with it. The only thing which would have absolutely forced them to stand over it would have been existing EU law - which there was none. The European Central Bank can't legally stop issuing currency to Ireland just because some French or German banks got burnt.
      - dageshi 7y ago
        Because the euro isn't just a currency, it's the entire banking system as well. The euro doesn't work as a currency without a banking system to transmit it because people have bank accounts with banks... not the central bank. If a bunch of German/French banks suddenly get 40billion in losses what happens next? They will have to panic sell their remaining good assets to remain solvent, that transmits the problem on to the other banks that they have invested in. Because the EU banks all tended to lend money to each other. So you end up with the problem transmitting around europe (and beyond) but it's worse because everyone is trying to sell everything at the same time to remain solvent.

dageshi 7y ago

Yes, but also, the euro simply wasn't designed to handle the magnitude of what was happening in the financial crisis, it didn't have a central bank capable and government capable of stepping in to support the banks the way the FED did in the US. In other words, they were trying to prevent pure unmitigated chaos, the kind of chaos that leads to outright depressions. This crisis was only 10 years ago and already people seem to forget just how bad it was.

purple_ducks 7y ago
That's unrelated. My point was the Irish government could have burned the bondholders (German/French banks) and let the losses hit their profits instead of piling the Irish taxpayers under a mountain of (private) debt.
- dageshi 7y ago
  It isn't unrelated, it is entirely the point. The Irish don't have their own currency, when you don't have your own currency you don't ultimately control your own affairs you share them with the others who use that currency.
  - purple_ducks 7y ago
    How would the burning of private bondholders to the tune of €140 billion have affected the Euro currency? > you don't ultimately control your own affairs you share them with the others who use that currency The currency had nothing to do with it. The only thing which would have absolutely forced them to stand over it would have been existing EU law - which there was none. The European Central Bank can't legally stop issuing currency to Ireland just because some French or German banks got burnt.
    - dageshi 7y ago
      Because the euro isn't just a currency, it's the entire banking system as well. The euro doesn't work as a currency without a banking system to transmit it because people have bank accounts with banks... not the central bank. If a bunch of German/French banks suddenly get 40billion in losses what happens next? They will have to panic sell their remaining good assets to remain solvent, that transmits the problem on to the other banks that they have invested in. Because the EU banks all tended to lend money to each other. So you end up with the problem transmitting around europe (and beyond) but it's worse because everyone is trying to sell everything at the same time to remain solvent.