Comments on: Down the Republic

By: Como traduzir Â«crony capitalismÂ»? : destruiÃ§Ã£o criativa

Como traduzir Â«crony capitalismÂ»? : destruiÃ§Ã£o criativa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:21:49 +0000

[...] do PIB de paÃses mais e menos regulados, com maior ou menor Estado Social); prosseguiu com uma reacÃ§Ã£o do irlandÃªs P. O’Neill no blogue A Fistful of Euros, escrevendo que a promiscuidade entre governantes e agentes [...]

By: Vermont News Guy» Blog Archive » Fiscally Fraudulent - Real News for Real Vermonters

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:16:09 +0000

[...] has gone bust, largely because it is under-taxed and under-regulated (and possibly corrupt; see here). No intent here to trash the folks at Vermont Tiger, who seem civilized and who sometimes make [...]

By: Barry

Barry — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:29:14 +0000

“But in terms of bank nationalization, for instance, you can nationalize the entire Irish system with 6 institutions. ”

I don’t know the actual figures, but ISTR Krugman saying that the 5 biggest institutions in the US control 58% of the assets. In addition, the biggest players were heavily into the rottenist transactions.

The ‘nationalization’ which needs to be done in the US might involve a dozen large instituions; there’s no need to restructure Mom&Pop’s Sane Savings &Loan.

By: TheTradingReport » Blog Archive » links for 2009-04-24

TheTradingReport » Blog Archive » links for 2009-04-24 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:02:18 +0000

[...] P. O’Neill: Down the Irish Republic [...]

By: P O Neill

P O Neill — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:26:02 +0000

Edward

There is new Spain material from the Fund.

http://www.imf.org/external/country/ESP/index.htm

By: Edward Hugh

Edward Hugh — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:46:22 +0000

Hello,

“The lesson instead might be that a government desperate to save itself is not necessarily the best instrument to save the country.”

It would be too simplistic to simply transfer your account to the Spanish situation, but there are evident parallels. I will try and get into all this in a more serious an coherent way at some point, but the question you ask is very relevant to the recent changes in the Zapatero government, so as you say, perhaps “a government desperate to save itself is not necessarily the best instrument to save the country”.

By: P O Neill

P O Neill — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:43:46 +0000

The municipal angle is indeed critical in Ireland, where local and national politics are so closely intertwined. County council politics is the training ground for those with national ambitions, but also the place where zoning decisions are made. It’s where the cronyism starts.

By: Canucklehead

Canucklehead — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:54:09 +0000

I’m sure you will find crony capitalism everywhere you look. The basic building block is municipal politics. Get your mayor or alderman elected and get that zoning change (or what have you). Once you have a political machine up and running locally, press forward into provincial or federal politics. Once that machine has been established, the world is your arugula (or oyster).

Transparency will blunt some aspects of corrupt crony capitalism. The ability to steer transparency is what adds value to broadcasting assets. As these assets are generally losing value, I suspect we are about to see a fundamental shift in transparency, and towards good governance.