It's the end of 2010 I've just been on vacation to visit family back in Hong Kong and one of the first questions I get asked is "How is Ireland doing?, I hear you guys are in trouble". I'd usually answer, "Yes Ireland is pretty messed up financially. By the way, I'm expecting a paycut and increased taxes next month."

What wasn't a shock to me was that AIB had effectively been nationalised while I was away and there is still a slim chance that Ireland might still default in 2011. Yet there is still more money being poured into the banking system from taxes, levies and raiding state pension funds.

It's terrible that Ireland now owes so much money to the EU and IMF at such a high interest rate (6% as far as I recall). The EU and IMF are like loan sharks with a knife at the Irish government's throat forcing them to take the loan. I'm still of the opinion that the banks should not have been bailed out and that NAMA is still a terrible idea and defaulting would still have been a better option. The motto of "Fail fast and fail early" is definately not a bad idea, Ireland would be on the path of recovery much earlier.

Thanks to the crisis my pension with the university that I am working with is probably wiped out and "invested" into the broken banking system. I guess if the cost of bailing out the banks was so minimal to the taxpayer in the first place then Ireland should have nationalised one of the banks early on or else let one of the banks default.