Poor Enron = Very Poor Irish O.A.P's ??

BJJ

Telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc, plagued by accounting scandals and strapped for cash, filed the biggest bankruptcy in US history on Sunday.

The Chapter 11 filing at the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York listed $107 billion in assets.


Of course this will do wonders for all you people paying for future Irish pensions as the majority of them have Shares and Assets floating on the NYSE.

Very clever Irish Government!

Well done!

Trust a bunch of Republican business crooks with Irish health insurance and Retirement plans!

Keep on Trekin

Yankees

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Originally posted by BJJ
Very clever Irish Government!

Well done!

Yes it was smartypants.
Were you complaining at the turn of the millenium when your pension fund was sky rocketing!? The NYSE, year on year has been the best performing S/E in the world and will continue to do so in the future.

Never heard of fiscal cycles !? Where ever you have pension fund money around the world, it will be suffering ATM.

Kim Tae-Woo

No 80project,
I think when the Irish gov continued to invest in a Republican NYSE it was pure stupidity.
Took at Swiss, French, German foreign investors. When they come to Ireland they set up property and build Toll bridges and roads.
The Irish gov could have invested money in Ireland's infastructure, but instead they let foreign countries do it and lay claim to money from Irish people.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Kim,
the Irish Govt investing in infrastructure in Ireland is different than portfolio management. Thats not to say they need necessarily confine them to world s/e's but it is the conventional means by which pension funds and the likes are run. Point taken though

sceptre

Kim made me think of (what I'd think of) as a few interesting questions:

Are there any countries that anyone can think of who build motorways/bridges financed by the State, charge tolls and put the receipts into the pension fund?

If we did something like that here, would people complain as much about paying tolls (at least they would know the money really is theirs rather than the perceived difference of going into regular government coffers or private investors' pockets)?

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Well thats largely the basis for public-private partnerships. Generally Govts will set-up companies guarenteed by bond.
It happens in the US quite a bit re: the Power Stations and Water Co's etc. where the indivdual states, with the help of private sector funds, will invest in Utilities for example and then use any revenues to fund the State treasury funds. This of course then would be used to to finance public sector expenditure such as pensions.

--
As for the private sector, I know Life Assurance Companies invest in all manner of things. For instance I know a Dutch Pension Fund invested heavily in the Tralee Aquadome a few years back and made a tidy little profit out of it.

Lei Xiejiang

Seems like a good idea. Any chance of the Irish gov doing something like this during 2002?

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Well it looks unlikely but I know it is very much the policy long-term for the PD's (and in that you can include Charles McCreavy Esq.)

Having said its not a perfect solution to all problems of infrastructure etc. Sometimes the Govt. are best left to their own devices on these things (with the guiding hand and "euro" from Brussels)

Mike66

750 Million Euro gone


Thanks Bertie