First, we have the now neutered Celtic Tiger, Ireland, which is one of the biggest economies of Europe, with:

• Farmers unable to sell produce because of collapsing prices.
• Potential public strikes in the public services.
• Bank of Ireland shares cheaper than toilet paper.
• Rumors that their ATM system will be shutting down.

Meanwhile, the Irish government is in the midst working out the finer points of an enormous bank rescue plan, and Irish lenders are now requiring 20% down for mortgages.

You know, if you had done that last one 3-5 years ago, you would not be up the creek now.

In the mean time, Iceland just got a $10.2 billion bailout loan from the IMF, Scandinavian countries, and the UK.

The money goes primarily to the Icelandic deposit guarantee agency, their version of the IMF, so most of the money is going right back to foreigners from the countries who made the loan, but the Iclandic people will be left with the debt, by my calculations about $34 thousand for every man, woman and child on the island.

Welcome to the third world.

And while we’re at it, scroll down on this article, and note that Turkey is going to get screwed again by world financial markets, even though they paid off their debts a few years back, and have been doing everything right.

The lesson here is that if you play by the WTO rules of international trade, you will never be allowed to come out of debt and control your own destiny.