A view from the USA...

Ireland long a nation is a province once again!

Here are what her new corporate masters have squeezed from her people:

• The minimum wage cut by €1 per hour.

• 5% reductions in child care allowances, unemployment benefits, and public sector pensions.

• The imposition of a nationwide real estate tax.

• But NO INCREASE IN THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX, already the lowest in Western Europe.

The questions as always are: Who will profit? And who will pay? And the answers as always are what Billie Holiday told us in a song: "Them that's got shall get, them that's not shall lose."

Ireland's unemployment now stands at 12%. Of the €90 billion bailout from the EU and IMF, €15 billion will go right into the pockets of the bankers who are in large part responsible for the mess. Another €60 billion will go to securing Ireland's debt over the next 3 years, which it will have to pay off at high interest rates. Bankers and other creditors around the world not only get their asses hauled out of the sling, they also get a chance to reap a handsome profit from Ireland's misery.

So where are today's Brian Boru, Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmett, Bold Fenian Men, Padraig Pearse, and James Connolly? Are all the rebels dead and gone? I hope not.

Meanwhile my fellow Americans need to heed the warning from the plight of our brothers and sisters in Ireland where corporate gangsters stole their nation right out from under their feet. These thugs worship no God but the Almighty Euro-Pound-Dollar-Yen. If you think it can't happen in the USA, then think again! It has already happened to Greece as well as Ireland. Who's next? Portugal? Spain? Our own country?

These are just my opinions. I am no expert, and I could be wrong. But I fear that I am not.

--- Steve Suffet