Can’t Pay Your Loans? We Take the Player
July 28th, 2011
Hey, if the ECB seizes enough players, they might spend their time building a team rather than bailing banks out
In our film, the Federal Reserve confiscates houses as collateral from people who can’t afford them, or do so to keep the housing market solvent. While that is bad enough, what if it could seize people as collateral? It’s a scary thought, but that is what the European Central Bank (ECB) is rumored to be planning if a Spanish bank goes solvent.
A Spanish banking group called Bankia, is in financial trouble, and has run to the ECB asking for a bailout. This bank, which cut a 76 million euro loan to Spanish soccer powerhouse Real Madrid that is in the process of being repaid so the team could acquire Portuguese all-star Christiano Ronaldo, may have to put the superstar up as collateral in case of default. Mr. Ronaldo, who was acquired a couple of years ago for 100 million euros, is technically still owned by the financing group, since Real Madrid is yet to pay back the loans, and is facing a huge shortfall.
But not to worry. Apparently in Europe, it isn’t just banks that get bailed out, soccer teams do to, but given Spain’s fiscal nightmare that rivals Greece in size and scope, it would be a big hurdle to justify bailing out a soccer team, when it can’t even get its own fiscal house in order. I don’t care how much I love a professional sports team, I definitely wouldn’t support my tax dollars going to prop up a multi-billion dollar business, even if it stands to have one of its best players repossessed by a bank, even if its unfair to the player.
