"Irish banks lend unsecured money to each other then claim loans as collateral to borrow from the EC

[FLPanhandle]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/paddy-meet-ponzi-irish-banks-lend-billions-each-other-use-ecb-collateral

The Irish Times writes that Irish Banks are issuing billions in bonds to themselves "under the Government guarantee to borrow cheaply from the European Central Bank and to avoid drawing more heavily on emergency lending from the Irish Central Bank. Four banks issued bonds worth €17 billion to themselves last month under the Government’s extended guarantee, the Eligible Liabilities Guarantee, to use as collateral to borrow from the ECB.

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And since this is happening in Ireland, it is most certainly happening everywhere in Europe. And yes - this is the pinnacle of a pyramid scheme - this is about a thousand times worse than what US banks did when they purchased CDO tranches from each other, as the risk in the Irish case is ultimately borne by the European taxpayer. But such is life when the entire financial system continues to be massively insolvent, and only openly Ponzi schemes of this nature allow the system to continue operating on a day to day basis.

<snip>

Yet is this really surprising? After all, with the Fed as ultimate backstop to Europe, as has been the case ever since the advent of the FX swaps, which are still being used to this day, and with Illinois relying on Europe of all place to funds its pension funds, and with everyone relying on everyone else for a continued "funding" circle jerk, it is now clear that the entire global financial system is and has been for two years one massive ponzi scheme.





Someone explain to me again why Bankers deserve so much money in salaries and bonuses when any two bit hustler can do the same job?

[LiberalAndProud]

1. Is cheque kiting not illegal in Ireland?

Is this different in any way?