Irish Miracle — or Mirage? - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Irish Miracle — or Mirage? - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com: "The problems are strikingly reminiscent of Latin America in the 1980s. Those nations borrowed too heavily in the 1970s (also, by the way, from big international banks) and then — in the face of tougher macroeconomic conditions in the United States — lost access to capital markets. For 10 years they were stuck with debt overhangs, just like the weak euro-zone countries, which made it virtually impossible to grow."