Plissken
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2005
- Messages
- 1,404
If this seems a bit like plugging my blog, then feel free to delete it (or tell me, and I'll delete it).
Anyway, the Irish economy can charitably be described as "completely fucked", especially as it is on the danger list in Europe with stuff like national debt being downgraded. The reasons are long and complex, but a lot of it is shared with the UK, a banking sector taking massive risks on property developments that were hugely overvalued. The effect is the same, the fat cat bankers make off with loads of cash and the poor sod in the street is left to pick up the pieces.
Chief among the culprits was a guy called Sean Fitzpatrick. He was the Chief Executive, then Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank.
Last week, Fitzpatrick was declared bankrupt in the Irish courts. He owes around ?150 million to his creditors. Anglo Irish is the biggest creditor at ?110 million.
He has estimated assets of ?50 million, with ?45 million in investments, and ?1.23 million in various bank accounts.
He is currently appealing against ?2.8 million of tax liabilities in relation to capital gains and income taxes.
As far as I can see, his salary while Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank was ?539,000.
So, for perspective, he managed to take out loans that were almost 300 times his own salary. Loans which are now being paid off by the Irish taxpayer.
In response to these numbers, I knocked up a quick calculator. The average salary in the UK is ?25,896. Under Seans rules, a person on that salary can borrow ?8,526,942.63. And argue with the taxman about paying ?161,429.61 in tax.
Decided to put it up on the web, so you can feed your own salary in and see exactly what the equivalences are if you tried to borrow money.
http://www.micait.co.uk/mikelanders/bankrupt.aspx
I'm thinking of going down to Anglo Irish and asking for the dosh, to be honest.
Anyway, the Irish economy can charitably be described as "completely fucked", especially as it is on the danger list in Europe with stuff like national debt being downgraded. The reasons are long and complex, but a lot of it is shared with the UK, a banking sector taking massive risks on property developments that were hugely overvalued. The effect is the same, the fat cat bankers make off with loads of cash and the poor sod in the street is left to pick up the pieces.
Chief among the culprits was a guy called Sean Fitzpatrick. He was the Chief Executive, then Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank.
Last week, Fitzpatrick was declared bankrupt in the Irish courts. He owes around ?150 million to his creditors. Anglo Irish is the biggest creditor at ?110 million.
He has estimated assets of ?50 million, with ?45 million in investments, and ?1.23 million in various bank accounts.
He is currently appealing against ?2.8 million of tax liabilities in relation to capital gains and income taxes.
As far as I can see, his salary while Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank was ?539,000.
So, for perspective, he managed to take out loans that were almost 300 times his own salary. Loans which are now being paid off by the Irish taxpayer.
In response to these numbers, I knocked up a quick calculator. The average salary in the UK is ?25,896. Under Seans rules, a person on that salary can borrow ?8,526,942.63. And argue with the taxman about paying ?161,429.61 in tax.
Decided to put it up on the web, so you can feed your own salary in and see exactly what the equivalences are if you tried to borrow money.
http://www.micait.co.uk/mikelanders/bankrupt.aspx
I'm thinking of going down to Anglo Irish and asking for the dosh, to be honest.
