Stacy Summary:  I recommend reading the entire article.  And I’m sure @Danny and @david have their thoughts to add?

• Ghost towns may haunt Ireland’s property loan gamble

Ireland is suffering the worst economic slump of any developed nation since the Great Depression, according to the Economic & Social Research Institute in Dublin.

The banking system came close to collapse after the bankruptcy of New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. a year ago today froze global credit markets and swelled bad debts. Ireland’s banks are now in a “vegetative state,” according to RBC Capital in London. The government is hoping that by purging toxic assets, the banks will revive lending and reignite the economy.

Stacy Summary:  Indeed.  Why aren’t people out protesting in front of the SEC about the ban on short sellers?  The SEC essentially outlawed price discovery.  Investors were not allowed to even dare believe a bank’s stock was overvalued (it was, afterall, only the shorting of select banking shares that was banned).  And bringing in these price fixing measures at the close was a form of state confiscation of wealth as many people who were short the banking sector must have got caught holding.

• Short sellers:  the Unsung Heroes of the Financial Crisis

There has been insufficient appreciation of the positive role that shorters played in this story. They were the ones that effectively brought the speculative party to an end. By dumping bonds and buying up credit default swaps on the sick financial giants’ debt, in addition to shorting their stock, the shorters made it impossible for these companies to continue their reckless ways.

Of course the shorters were not trying to perform a public service. They were trying to make money. However, in pursuing profits, they did what the Fed failed to do: they brought the dangerous inflation of a housing bubble to an end.