The New York Times: HAMPing Europe’s periphery

The markets don’t seem impressed by the Irish bailout — nor should they be. As I read it, European policy makers are still — still! — viewing the crisis as a confidence problem, not a fundamental problem. The Irish bailout is not, after all, what one normally thinks of as a bailout — it’s not like the Texas S&L bailout, where national taxpayers assumed the losses of failed Texas banks. It’s simply an agreement to lend Ireland funds at more or less safe market rates. Read the story here.