Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Toxic debt

Irish Taken For Fools...

Vested interests: 38 politicians voting on Nama have extensive property portfolios... Almost 40 of the politicians who will vote on the critical Nama legislation designed to clean up the banks' toxic loans to property developers have extensive property interests both here and abroad themselves. The current register of interests, in which politicians are legally obliged to reveal any outside commercial interests, shows that, excluding the hundreds of acres of farmland owned by politicians, 38 TDs and senators have substantial development land and commercial property holdings. These range from the relatively modest three properties held by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, including one in Leeds, to Fine Gael's Alan Shatter, who lists joint ownership with an "other" of 14 investment properties in Dublin, London and Florida. Of the 38 politicians, 17 could be considered to have significant interests which, during the property boom, would have provided a comfortable income on their

Recessionsaurus...

Your essential guide to language in the 21st century economy... It's happened to us all. One minute you're in your element, waxing lyrical about the big match over a bag of peanuts down the pub, the next the talk turns to the markets and you're left clutching at more straws than an octopus playing Kerplunk. Worry no more. Like a white knight with a big dictionary under his arm, The Times today charges to the rescue with the Recessionsaurus — Robert Cole's guide to modern vocab. We've listed and defined some of the most common phrases to have cropped up over the past few months, and we hope you find them useful. But this is an interactive service — we want your input, too. Use the Have your Say box below to query any economic tongue twisters and terminology to have come your way recently. We'll monitor your feedback and add new entries, quicker than you can say quantitative easing. Well, almost... Administration One step from bankrupt