NAMA

NAMA this, NAMA that!!
So what is it I hear you say? Well essentially what NAMA is, is an asset management agency charged with cleaning up the dirty deeds of our banks during the so called ‘Celtic Tiger’ years in Ireland. This was the only real option available to the Government, the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank after they all pretended the Banks weren’t being bold boys and that we should all hope the good times would continue and no one thought of the consequences of today’s actions tomorrow! So basically NAMA or the National Asset Management Agency to give it it’s full title will be responsible for taking over these ‘rogue’ banks risky loan portfolio’s and in turn ensuring the stability of the financial system, the protection of depositors and ensuring that banks were freed up to lend to the real economy or at least that’s the line they are spinning! And we’re not talking about a couple of hundred million here or there no the total value of NAMA when all risky loans are required is ninety billion, the biggest property portfolio in the world! Our only get back at these bold bankers is that we have capped their CEO’s wages at a mere 500,000 a year (sure God love them how will they survive) and that we the tax payer will pay a price substantially below their amount in order to make a profit for ourselves. But the problem lies here that the amount we are paying now as set out by the Minister for Finance is actually above their current market value. These loans which will be the weight on our tax payer shoulders for the foreseeable future were obtained by developers during the boom years to build them awful looking housing estates and apartment blocks in the fields where you once played as a child and that are worth nowhere near the amount they were back then and most are like barren deserts! The Minister tells us that because NAMA is planning on holding onto these ‘assets’ for a while and their value should increase with time over what we paid for them now! Can it all work, lets just wait and see….