WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SELLING AND BUYING. WHY THE EURO AND NOT THE U.S. DOLLAR? AH THOSE BANKER'S BLUES.

So, Jeremy Warner of the UK's Telegraph caught a performance by the American financial TV broadcaster, CNBC's Joe Kernan (YouTube video) who seemed bemused upon learning the Irish banking system belongs to the Eurozone and not the British.

Warner claims it's "from an economic perspective, it's a very odd state of affairs which isn't obviously doing the country [the Irish] a great deal of good."

The Irish have had overlords since Henry II sent a force in 1171 to control his own Norman knights in their 1169 conquest of Ireland. The Irish overlords of today are German bankers mostly along with French and Italian bankers as well as their respective national politicians who get these bankers to buy sovereign bonds, thus enabling deficit spending and ever weakening the buying power of the Euro.

So why are the Irish beholden to their continental masters and not their former British masters? Here is what the numbers say.

It's true. The Irish import more goods from the Brits than from anyone else. In fact, 38.5% of all their goods come from the UK. The Irish import 1.5 times as much stuff from Brits as they do from their Eurozone friends.

However, the Irish export 2.7 times as much stuff to their Eurozone friends as they do to Brits. With their Eurozone friends, the Irish have a $37.5 billion trade surplus. With their not so beloved Brits, the Irish suffer a -$2.4 billion trade deficit.

Of their Eurozone friends, the Irish hold their best trade position with the Belgians and Luxembourgians. The Irish run a $16.5 billion trade surplus with with the two countries combined, which is 2.5 times better than their trade position with the French or the Germans, their next two biggest trading partners of the Eurozone.

In spite of their -$1.4 billion trade deficit with the Norwegians, mostly for oil, the Irish enjoy a $7.4 billion trade surplus with the banking independents, Swiss, Danish and Swedes, including the Norwegians.

Americans buy more stuff from the Irish than anyone. The Irish sell 21.6% of their goods to Americans. Americans buy 1.4 times as much stuff from the Irish as the Brits do. Americans buy from the Irish 1.5 times as much as Belgians and Luxembourgians combined, 2.4 times as much as the Germans and 3.0 times as much as the French.

The Brits with their Bank of England and British pound whom Kirnan believes should be the banking masters over Irish, engage is substantial trade with those of the Eurozone. A whopping 62.4% of Brit imports come from Eurozone countries while the Brits sell 57.4% of their exports to Eurozone countries.

Eurozone countries hold 77.5% of Brits's net trade position. The BRIC countries of China, India and Russia come in second with 44% of the British's net trade position.

As with the Irish, Americans buy more stuff from Brits than anyone else, although the Germans aren't far behind ($52.4 billion vs $47.5 billion). Brits sell three times as much stuff to the Eurozone players as they do to Americans and Canadians combined.

So, the bigger question becomes why aren't the Irish using the Federal Reserve banking system for theirs and thus the U.S. dollar for their cash? Likewise, why haven't the Brits long ago abandoned the British pound and the Bank of England in favor of the Federal Reserve and the the U.S. dollar or the European Central Bank and the Euro?

Unless the Irish have their own cash, never will the Irish be free. The Irish might as well celebrate the Henry the 8th Tudor re-conquest of Ireland of the 1530s.

Enjoy an little-known Irish export, a quality guitarist, Rory Gallagher.