Silly Old Twit

    You could be forgiven for thinking that Irish Banks were in a state of crisis if not meltdown if you happened to be a listener to Joe Duffey on RTE. One after another callers into his radio show described how they were in the process of hotfooting it down to the bank to get their money out before….well before things got completely out of hand.  And yes , we know the Irish banking system is quite sound but if Lehmans can go bankrupt having lost literally billions then it’s better to be safe than sorry. So regardless of what you think about all this the fact is that a lot of folks are anxious to put their money just about anywhere rather than  in their friendly local bank. And just tonight on RTE TV news there were more reports of ‘concern’ among those lucky enough to have some spare cash in the bank.

  So let me ask you this question .  Do you have a tidy sum sitting in your local bank?  And if the answer is yes then what are you going to do ? What I mean is , are you getting worried …….are you? . The experts are predicting that yet more large US banks will fold so don’t you think you have a right to be worried ? . The US Federal Reserve has released $180 billion dollars to help other US banks and global central banks are doing likewise……the biggest bailout in human history . So let me ask you again. Are you getting worried ?.

 UPDATE: (19/9/08) On foot of a ban on short selling and intervention by the US Reserve Bank share prices have rocketed in the last few hours while we are told there is no need to worry as the European Bank has no shortage of cash. But this very volatility is a worry in itself. We are told that Irish banks are not at risk as they were not involved  in the sub-prime issue in the first place but that’s simplistic to say the least. The fact is that the banks are facing the biggest crisis in their history…….and it’s not over yet…

   And to imagine that Irish banks are somehow immune to all this just because we are in Europe is the stuff of fairy tales..