The wooden spoon
The banks and us,
Bloomberg report
"The IMF said “stabilization costs” by the end of 2009 would account for 13.4 percent of Britain’s 1.3 trillion-pound a year gross domestic product. Only Ireland is spending more per capita on its banks, about 13.9 percent of GDP, according to the IMF. The U.S. was next out of 19 countries at 12.1 percent."
HELP! the lunatics are running the asylum.
Poetry in hard times
From 'The Magpie' in todays Irish Times
THE FOLLOWING untitled poem, which Magpie has decided shall henceforth be known as Ode to Biffo, was doing the rounds among certain Fine Gaelers on Budget Day:
“Cowen is my shepherd, I shall not work.
He leadeth me beside still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Fine Gael.
He guideth me to the path of unemployment.
Yea, though I wait for my dole,
I own the bank that refuses me.
Cowen has anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over my income,
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the
Days of his term.
From henceforth we will live all the days
Of our lives in a rented home with an overseas landlord.
I am glad I am Irish,
I am glad that I am free.
But I wish I was a dog
And Cowen was a tree.”
