Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

The great depression in the US became apparent because of a shortage of credit. It was based on money that at the time was related to the gold standard. That no longer applies. The lending process now requires a certain amount of deposits going through the system and is dependent on channelling debt throughout the system. When a person puts approximately €1,200 into a bank, this eventually leads to approximately €1 million worth of money floating through the system, money which does not really exist and which, if some of loans are overspread or if people start trading in loans as they did in the US leading to the creation of this whole problem, results in the collapse of the system.

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