NAMA a failed business plan to protect private equity

NAMA is a colossal misdirection and waste of public resources, a financial ballot of institutions that have corrupted our democracy and damaged our society condemning hundreds of thousands to negative equity, bankruptcy and un-employment.

The root cause of this is greed and selfishness and a tangled skein of institutions grown up to express and protect them. NAMA represents not only a failure of truth and justice but illustrates how politics, the economy, society, you and every taxpayer is now subject to the control of financial markets and institutions.

It is exceedingly difficult for the public to understand how Irish Banks as independent financial institutions who made billions in profit for private shareholders in the past few years, now seek a colossal financial ballot from the taxpayer. These very institutions exposed themselves and their shareholders to financial risks totaling, well over 90 billion a figure so vast in the context of Irish history that one searches in vain for any relevant historical parallel.

In 2005 Anglo Irish Bank reported a profit of 685million euros and over 1billion profit in 2007. This profit was shared out amongst its main shareholders including Sean Quinn a 15% shareholder of the bank, Invesco 5% shareholder, Swiss Bank 6% shareholder, Dresdner 7% shareholder and Janus Capitol a 5.5% shareholder.

These shareholders accepted the business plan of the board of directors of the bank that providing over 67billion in loans in 2007 largely for property developments and purchase of development lands in Ireland and abroad that were widely overvalued and should have been regarded as high risk investments. Yet it is now the Irish taxpayer who is being told that we have no choice but to recapitalize such risky credit institutions.

The NAMA legislation is being introduced to protect credit institutions that are of systemic important to the economy of the state. We the public need to demand of our Minister for finance who has ultimate responsibility for selecting which credit institutions are protected by NAMA to explain to the members of the Oireachtas and the public why it is that Anglo Irish Bank, an insolvent institution, is of systematic important to the Irish economy.

Is NAMA protecting its shareholders and business partners who took a risk on equities and investments that have failed? NAMA is now calling on the taxpayer to provide a multibillion bailout to a failed economic system at a time of soaring job losses and widespread economic turmoil. By injecting almost 30 billion euro in Anglo Irish Bank to overpay for assets that are now significantly devalued is a crime. A failed bank and a failed financial system is being sold to us to ensure the survival of a few greedy individuals on the backs of the sacrifices of the many.

How we deal with this current crisis will provide a clear indication of how as a society we may face the real challenges of the 21st century, climate change, food and energy security, over consumption, the challenge of diminishing resources and increasing population. Based on the current situation right now the future doesn’t look to bright.