Whats this NAMA thing?

Iang87 · 01-09-2009 6:09pm #1

I'm hearing so much about this NAMA thing, just wondering what it is or what its supposed to be.I could just watch the news but i gave up on the news cos all they say is recession, recession and now for weather looks like more rain.

God damn news

ShooterSF · 01-09-2009 6:11pm

Never heard of it. Do you mean Nemo? Seemingly he's a missing fish people are looking for.

FearDark · 01-09-2009 6:11pm

Its NAMBLA.

biko · 01-09-2009 6:11pm

www.nama.ie or possibly what he said ^^

Iang87 · 01-09-2009 6:12pm

Magnus wrote: »

www.nama.ie

way too much reading i'll wait for the movie

My name is URL · 01-09-2009 6:14pm

The Khoekhoe language, or Khoekhoegowab, also known by the ethnic term Nàmá and previously the now discouraged term Hottentot, is the most populous and widespread of the Khoisan languages.

thomond2006 · 01-09-2009 6:20pm

WARNING: serious answer

It's a government agency that will buy all the toxic loans/mortgages from Irish financial institutions (AIB, BOI etc), which will allow all these companies to operate from a clean slate.

NAMA = National Asset Management Agency

btw toxic loans mean loans that cannot be repaid i.e. bad debts

To be honest, AH is the last place you should ask this.

ei.sdraob · 01-09-2009 6:22pm

its a big stick that will be shoved up all taxpayers holes i hear

Smart Bug · 01-09-2009 6:30pm

It's a government agency whereby the Government will be able to use public funds to buy back toxic assets (bad debts), mostly owned by property developers from our country's failing banks.

These assets will be purchased at a price well above current market value (though these amounts, or the means to arrive at these valuations have not yet been clarified). This legislation will have a long-term impact on the finances of this country.

A group of academic economists have spoken out against NAMA and the IMF have also stated their opposition to such an agency.

Search the Irish Times website for an article on this containing links to the above assertions. I think that's it in a nutshell, tho I'm open to correction.

Edit: in fact, no other political party (including the Greens) have expressed support for NAMA.

biko · 01-09-2009 6:33pm

It's a way for FF to save their banking and developer buddies while letting the ordinary Paddies foot the bill (again).

Smart Bug · 01-09-2009 6:36pm

Magnus wrote: »

It's a way for FF to save their banking and developer buddies while letting the ordinary Paddies foot the bill (again).

I was trying for the neutral approach, but what Magnus said...

tricky D · 01-09-2009 6:36pm

It's part of the lyrics of a song by the Muppets

dlofnep · 01-09-2009 6:44pm

Ever hear of Robin Hood?

Yeah well, it's the complete opposite of him.

Banter Joe · 01-09-2009 6:44pm

Smart Bug wrote: »

Edit: in fact, no other political party (including the Greens) have expressed support for NAMA.

As well as that, apparently the ECB wants the assests to be bought at their current market value rather than projected value.

Does anybody actually think it's a good idea (apart from the government) to pay over the current market value for toxic assets?

Basq · 01-09-2009 6:45pm

Nama?

Pride Fighter · 01-09-2009 6:47pm

Its the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

Reverse socialism so FF can bail out its developer friends.

Turd Ferguson · 01-09-2009 6:48pm

Nama is the Spanish for laundry, but like a childs laundry. We dont really have a word for it

jigglywoo · 01-09-2009 6:51pm

Whenever I heard "toxic assets" being mentioned on the new I thought they were saying "toxic acids" and I was like "why the **** would banks have toxic acids??":o

01-09-2009 7:34pm

Níl Aon Meas Againn :rolleyes:

Taking all our (& childrens) tax to pay off Greedy developers! :mad:

Rented Mule · 01-09-2009 7:37pm

NAMA and FF are the two acronyms that showed me the way out of the country.

NAMA is going to be the greatest scourge on the country since the An Gorta Mor.

LightningBolt · 01-09-2009 7:41pm

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Its the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

Reverse socialism so FF can bail out its developer friends.

The poor are wealthy

01-09-2009 7:47pm

LightningBolt wrote: »

The poor are wealthy

After Nama, those who had something will have less of it!

In reality it's the "middle classes" and those who got rich quick who will lose the most!

Stark · 01-09-2009 8:38pm

Iang87 wrote: »

way too much reading i'll wait for the movie

Or wait for your paycheck at the end of the year. You'll get a good summary of it then.

Capt'n Midnight · 02-09-2009 3:27pm

There was a program on about Enron recently and they used an accounting fiction called mark to market

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron

Enron adopted mark to market accounting, in which anticipated future profits from any deal were tabulated as if real today. Thus, Enron could record gains from what over time might turn out losses,

Land value can do down as well as up. Yes there is a case for saying that if you sold all the assets at the same time their value would go down, simply because of supply and demand.

Paying over the odds for assets on the basis that they will be worth more in the future is crazy. The reason they are cheap now is because of the uncertainty involved. At present we are paying €400 million MORE a year in interest payments because our credit rating is lower than our EU partners. How much will NAMA costs us per year , by upsetting our credit rating ?

Long Onion · 02-09-2009 3:32pm

NAMA is a way for certain people to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about the fact that we were all too stupid to buy things for what they were really worth in the first place.

Jack Sheehan · 02-09-2009 4:21pm

jigglywoo wrote: »

Whenever I heard "toxic assets" being mentioned on the new I thought they were saying "toxic acids" and I was like "why the **** would banks have toxic acids??":o

Yeah, whenever anyone refers to the IMF, instead of thinking 'International Monetary Fund' I think 'Impossible Mission Force'. With those guys on side, how can we lose?

edanto · 02-09-2009 5:11pm

For a plain english, but reasonably long, article about why NAMA is a bad thing, have a look here

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0902/1224253663079.html

Nama will distort market and is economic nonsense

Sample .....
The market price of any item is determined by supply and demand. That is why, happily, we do not have a Nama for horses, aircraft and millions of other goods and services. The market for empty Irish houses, shops, hotels and the bizarrely titled “development land” is similarly determined by competition between those who believe that the items have, and will continue to have, a high value and those who don’t share that opinion.

The Nama concept that taxpayers should pay above market prices for the assets of bankrupt builders and bankers because they have a higher long-term economic value is an economic nonsense. The prices in the market already incorporate these long-term considerations. Since these considerations are already incorporated in the market price there is no economic case for further intervention by Nama to pay any higher price.

It is silly for the proponents of Nama to maintain that paying above market prices for impaired assets is not a subsidy to bankers and builders. The banks themselves, with the exception of ACCBank, have spent a lot of time and money at the High Court and Supreme Court to buy time so that they may benefit from Nama.

Whats this NAMA thing?

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