early in the morning of September 30 the Dublin government announced that for fear of dying it would commit suicide. As Europe turned on the morning news it learned that the Irish government was fully guaranteeing not just the deposits but all the liabilities of six major Irish banks for a period of two years. No other government had been advised in advance, nor had the ECB, nor had the Irish taxpayers.66 It stopped the run, but it left Ireland, with a population half the size of New York City, guaranteeing 440 billion euros in bank liabilities. The losses the banks incurred would bankrupt the
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