The Irish Uprising

Overlooked in all the turmoil in the Middle East is the outcome of the vote in Ireland.

Fianna Fail, the party that was in charge of negotiating the "bailout" of Ireland after the financial crisis, was thrown out of power by the historic vote. Over 70% of Irish voters turned out to make sure that Fine Gael (the Irish center-right party) and Labor (center-left) took control of the government.

Fine Gael had campaigned on renegotiating the terms of the EU bailout that would have effectively put 80% of the Irish budget by 2012 to paying back the bailout of the banks. Fine Gael and the people of Ireland have said, "thanks, but no thanks".

Fine Gael also will be insisting that BANKS that lent the money to failed institutions take a haircut on the money that is owed to them. This act alone will have reverberations throughout the EU and the world. Expect that the Euro will take a hit and that other countries that accepted bailouts from the EU and IMF will follow suit. Spain, Portugal, and Greece will be watching the outcome of the Ireland situation quite closely.

For more on this story, see these links:
Reuters story on the elections.
Irish Default the Best Option
Irish Government on Collision Course with the EU

Right now, this is the biggest story that most major news outlets in America are missing (CNN has it in it's "Other News" section barely visible on its front page. Drudge has it at about the same place as CNN). That's not surprising given the situation in the Middle East, especially in Libya. However, the fact that the Irish situation could spread to other European countries could have a greater effect on the world's economy than $100/barrel oil.

What has become clear is that the people (ie voters) have become fed up with policies that bail out banks on the backs of taxpayers. The new Irish government is about the show the world how to force senior bondholders to take a haircut on a bad investment.

James

Assuring Another Uprising

I am not one to post many international stories but in this case it is worth making an exception.

My flight to China leaves on March 4th and I will be spending about 10 days in Chengdu. Chengdu is hardly the hotspot for pro-democracy demonstrations but both Shanghai and Beijing have seen their share of people joining in the Jasmine Revolution.

In both Libya and Zimbabwe the tide has turned against their respective leaders. If you want to assure yourself of losing power in a short amount of time, fire on your own people with military jets like Libya has done. In Zimbabwe, Mugabe has decided that watching all video of the Jasmine Revolution in other countries or watching BBC or Al Jazeera reports is grounds for a 20-year jail sentence.

Below is an excerpt from the Zimbabwe article:

“Indeed, the single most important lesson from Tunisia and Egypt is that we as Zimbabweans are our own liberators,” Trevor Ncube, owner of three independent newspapers in Zimbabwe and The Mail & Guardian in South Africa, wrote this week in The Mail & Guardian. Mr. Ncube added later, “The world will only help us when we stand up and fight for our freedom and reclaim our country from Mugabe and the arrogant clique around him.”

This is similar to the statement made by Google executive Wael Ghonim prior to the Egyptian people overthrowing Mubarak.  Video of his interview is below:





As in Egypt, negotiation with rubber bullets, real bullets, military jets, and 20 year prison sentences, will all lead to the same outcome.

I have a great friend who is in the Middle East on behalf of the State Department. He wrote me last night to say, "One can't stifle people's political expression forever, but the result is going to be a lot more dynamic and less comfortable than we are used to."

James

On the bright side

This isn't us:

Michigan orders DPS to make huge cuts

Lansing— Swift and severe changes are coming to Detroit Public Schools.
State education officials have ordered Robert Bobb to immediately implement a financial restructuring plan that balances the district's books by closing half of its schools, swelling high school class sizes to 60 students and consolidating operations.

While the financial picture is still murky for many state and local governments, the Detroit Public School system

 

New Ward 5 Commission Race Website

Kelly Fraasch has officially launched her website in her race for the Ward 5 Commission seat.

Please visit www.KellyFraasch.com to get the latest news and information about the race.  In addition to having information about some of the issues facing Ward 5, Kelly has a list of people who have lent their support to her campaign.

If you have suggestions or questions, please feel free to email me or Kelly.  You can reach her at kelly@kellyfraasch.com

Walkable Communities on the Rise in Pennsylvania

I have been wanting to share this article for some time and am finally now getting around to it.

There was an article in the Tribune Review with the same title as this blog post. Please see the entire article here.