Investors' View of Ireland in Their Own Words - "Dive! Dive!"

Just picked this up from politics.ie, via the poster "clytaemnestra" - an article in The Daily Telegraph detailing the chaos that ensued while our Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, was giving an address via conference call hosted by Citigroup. Apparently, someone forgot to ensure that the address would only work one way, allowing those listening in on Lenihan's speech to respond. According to the Telegraph,

"Between 200 and 500 investors are understood to have been on the call, and as they realised their lines were not muted many began to heckle Mr Lenihan.
Some traders began making what one banker on the call described as "chimp sounds", while another cried out "dive, dive". A third man said "short Ireland" before adding "why not short Citi too?"As the call descended into chaos, with one participant heard to say "this is the worst conference call ever", Citigroup officials shut down the line."

Now, even within the most liberal of modern Irish people beats the red-blooded heart of a nationalist, so I will admit that my initial reaction to this article was "Feckin' Brits! Looking down on us again, all superior!" But on mature reflection, I realise that this incident can't be blamed on haughty British superiority, whether real or imagined. Ireland has left itself vulnerable to that tiny minority of people in the UK, continental Europe and the US who assume we are all drunken leprechauns; we are vulnerable because of this incompetent government and its unceasing desire to protect the connected and the wealthy from facing the downside of capitalism.

Fianna Fail, the Republican Party, has not only brought our independence into question, it has even done its best to prove every "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" style stereotype about the Irish as true, much to the delight of our detractors everywhere.

It's not "feckin' Brits" I need to rail against, but "feckin' traitors".