Because they’ve gotten a tiny bit of good news. Or because they are, in spite of history both distant and recent, congenitally optimistic without cause, at least when compared with Egyptians. Read more »
Ireland
Ireland’s long, hard struggle to avoid becoming Greece without the beaches or sunshine has at last borne fruit. Read more »
Reuters reports that Ireland’s parliament has approved the 85 billion euro bailout, by a vote of 81 to 75. In related news, one Canadian posing as a Irish citizen recently offered his two cents on the situation, noting that there are four causes of Ireland’s current predicament. They are: 1) ‘greed, greed and more greed’ 2) ‘the stupid fucking government’ 3) ‘very deceitful and conniving developers’ 4) ‘wanking fucking bankers…assholes.’ Read more »
Earlier this week, we got word via some RBS higher-ups that bonuses for the Queen’s bitches would be “less than 2009″ this year. How much less? If you’re lucky, apparently thirty percent and if you’re not, more. So, this is not the best news if you happen to be an employee of the Royal Bank (nor is the fact that the payouts don’t come until June) and while it may be little solace, consider taking heart: you could be working in Ireland, where the government has passed out its routing number and asked the banks to direct deposit employees’ bonuses in its checking account. Read more »
Ireland Might Get A Little Money To Tide Itself Over, If Country Can Swallow Its Pride
By Bess LevinThe Journal reports that “European finance ministers working on an international aid package for Ireland want the U.K. to make bilateral loans to Dublin as part of a larger aid package that could total up to €100 billion ($136 billion) and include credit from the euro zone and International Monetary Fund,” according to people familiar with the matter. The deal for the banks would be around €45 billion to €50 billion, while “a broader package designed to restore confidence in Ireland’s public finances as well could range from €80 billion to €100 billion.” However, we’re not there yet, as some people are too proud to take a handout. Read more »
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen Knows What You’ve Been Saying About His Country And Frankly Finds It Outrageous And Insulting
By Bess Levin
“One of the great pejorative terms that continue to be used is this thing of bailout which suggests that the country is in some way seeking not to meet its obligations, to meet its own debts,” Cowen said, rejecting the suggestion that Ireland will be unable to fund its obligation. “That is not the case.” He’s got some meetings set up re: this whole budget thing, they’ll sort it out, it’ll be fine, so just, shhh, relax. Read more »
As you may have heard, on Friday Citigroup held a call with Brian Lenihan, Ireland’s Finance Minister. Here’s how it was described by the Telegraph:
The call with Brian Lenihan and hundreds of investors rapidly descended into farce, forcing Citigroup, which staged the event, to pull the plug. The treatment of the minister, which comes as Ireland faces a standoff with a group of hedge funds over its rescue plan for Anglo Irish Bank, will increase tensions between the country and the debt markets. Mr Lenihan had been speaking for less than two minutes on Friday before a mistake by Citigroup meant that the bank’s clients were all able to be heard on the line. Between 200 and 500 investors are understood to have been on the call, and as they realised their lines were not muted many began to heckle Mr Lenihan. Some traders began making what one banker on the call described as “chimp sounds”, while another cried out “dive, dive”. A third man said “short Ireland” before adding “why not short Citi too?” As the call descended into chaos, with one participant heard to say “this is the worst conference call ever”, Citigroup officials shut down the line.
First off– “worst” conference call or best conference call ever? And second, Lenihan claims the whole thing never happened. Citi’s clients love him/Ireland and this was an attempt by the press to make him look bad. Read more »
Europe just emerged from the recession, but the Irish continue to insist on trying to ruin things. The Celtic Tiger is dead, and Eire is reduced to joining the ranks of Europe’s financial lepers, Italy, Greece and Portugal.
Credit-default swap prices on the sovereign debt of those countries are rising, meaning that Fitch Ratings might be on to something.
However no one, it seems, not even the Irish, have anything on the Greeks in terms of fiscal brinksmanship.
Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland headquarters, DublinLast year, we learned what happens when a small island in Europe filled with people who talk funny bets the farm on the financial services industry. Are the Irish next?
Lovely emerald Eire, the European economic miracle of the last few decades, has run into some hard times. GDP is down almost 10% this year, while the country’s debt is projected to soar by the end of next year to actually exceed GDP. And now, the indignity of a credit rating cut.
Never averse to kicking when the opponent is down, Fitch Ratings has slashed Ireland’s creditworthiness by two whole grades, to double-A-minus, whatever the hell that means. The other two ratings agencies may join in beating a dead Celtic Tiger, as both Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s have a negative outlook on Ireland.
Ireland lost its coveted triple-A rating in April.
- Use the Bloomberg command
NH BLG_DEALBREAKER <GO>
to access Dealbreaker -
You know what they say: You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your financial planner. Or something like that. One of the great things of being in charge of your money is choosing who (if anyone) will help you manage it. The choice isn’t always an easy one. How will you know that your planner is reputable and trustworthy?
These five red flags may be good indications of whether the financial planner sitting across from you is someone you should trust with your money. LearnVest Planning also provides an innovative 7-step program for your money where you work one-on-one with a financial planner. To see if this program is right for you, start with a free financial consultation.
1. She Isn’t Certified
“There are a lot of good planners out there who aren’t Certified Financial Panners™,” says Samantha Vient, CFP®, of LearnVest Planning Services. “However, CFPs® are required to adhere to the CFP® Board’s standards of professional conduct.We believe it’s always a good idea to work with someone who has the CFP® designation, which is issued after completing a CFP® Board-approved personal financial planning curriculum, passing a rigorous exam issued by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, meeting experience requirements and passing an ethics and background check.
-
Posted in:
Sponsored Content
SoFi Answers the Call to Refinance Student Loans and Provides Unique Community Benefits
This is a guest post written by SoFi’s CEO, Mike Cagney.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk amongst leaders in Washington about how to improve the painful process of repaying student loans. At SoFi, we feel your pain and work hard to offer more flexible, more affordable options for our borrowers. One idea that’s getting a lot of attention is increasing the options for refinancing debt after graduation. The only lender currently focused on refinancing private and federal student loans is SoFi.
We recognized early on that borrowers who have made timely payments on their loans, graduated from school, and have a job should be able to refinance their student loans at a lower interest rate. This may be why, after resuming lending by invitation, the media became increasingly interested in what we are doing.
In a recent article posted on MainStreet.com SoFi General Counsel Rob Lavet had this to say about SoFi’s ReFi products: Read more »
-
Posted in:
