One of my heroes, the mathematician John Allen Paulos, once wrote that "Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security."
Right now in the Irish economy, nothing is certain, and the Irish people are adjusting to this increased level of uncertainty about their futures. This post looks at those adjustments, and asks what is next for the Irish economy.
It's important to remember that all of the painful fiscal adjustments the Irish government has undertaken, the creation of NAMA, the blanket bank liability guarantee, even the EU/IMF loan package, all of it was designed to reduce uncertainty about Ireland's ability to repay its debts. None of this has worked.
Just look at the price of Ireland's two-year and 10-year sovereign bonds, shown below.