Ajai Chopra, the head of the IMF team negotiating the Irish 'bailout', previously worked in the IMF's Asia-Pacific department and led its 'rescue' mission to South Korea after a financial collapse in 1997. So how did that work out? State interventions were curtailed and the government budget was slashed (leading to massive redundancies), despite the fact that government overspending had nothing to do with the Korean crisis.

There's a story taking hold already about the arrival of the IMF on Irish soil. Yes, it is a shameful moment in our history to have gotten ourselves into this position. Yes, the Government which brought us to this pass will get a deserved roasting at the next election. But now that we're reached this point, the worst is over. We've hit rock-bottom and the only way is up.

When Irish bond yields were widening and the interest rates for Irish government debt were increasing in October and November, we heard a lot about how the bondholders will not accept a default on Irish debt. Here is Damian Chunilal of Hong Kong-based Ocean Capital Management on October 25:

On Wednesday 24 November we learnt that "Securing Ireland's Future" involves cuts to the minimum wage and a moralised attack on social welfare. This vision of 'security' provides yet another illustration of the gap between what is being done to society in Ireland in this crisis, and what the government and their newly minted overlords would have us believe.