Charlie Haughey's favourite clock was sold last week. Its old 19th-century hands passed into new hands for €4,500 – highlighting the value some people place on souvenirs of the notorious. The auction came three weeks after Bernie Madoff's Charvet underwear sold for $1,700. It seems there's money in crooks' socks, jocks and clocks.

The clock was a reminder of a time when Haughey and his cronies preach­ed one thing and practised another. It ticked away on his mantelpiece as Ireland struggled to survive – and he flew to Paris to buy Charvet shirts. It chimed while he gave his infamous belt-tightening speech, 30 years ago this new year.

"As a community, we are living way beyond our means… we have been living at a rate which is simply not justified…"

Sound familiar? Those sentiments have been echoed by Brian Lenihan in recent days. He believes, like Haughey did, that "we" are all to blame for this crisis. "We all partied during the boom." "We", like the élite, were living beyond our means.

This Share-The-Blame line was peddled again last week by former chairman of the financial regulator, Brian Patterson. He repeatedly told a meeting of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce that "everybody" was to blame. He suggested that people who had bought houses or shares during the boom were responsible for today's mess. He didn't mention the regulator's ineptitude, he just blamed "everybody".

Patterson also took a swipe at Morgan Kelly, who predicted the collapse, and said he no longer listens to gloomy Liveline. Presumably he doesn't want to hear the victims of the regulators' ineptitude complaining to Uncle Joe.

Let's stop the clock here. You and I are not responsible for the state of the economy. I never drank in the Galway tent or took a helicopter from one building site to another. No one loaned me millions with a wink, or slipped me a brown en­velope. The banks and property developers are responsible. The people we paid to protect us – like Fianna Fáil and Patterson – are responsible. I am not accepting responsibility for the greed and failures of others.

We are victims of human nature. We were manipulated, through fear, by the banks and vested interest. We were frightened into believing that, as valuations rose, we would never get on the property ladder and so we bought at inflated prices. Most of us purchased 'homes' – not 'investments'.

Now we are expected to feel responsible for our own impoverished state. Typical, isn't it? The Irish finally shake off Catholic guilt and are expected to replace it with Capitalist guilt.

I'm not responsible for this crisis which, according to Vincent de Paul, has children scavenging in bins in Kilkenny. I don't accept responsibility for Lenihan's cut-throat budget in a week that revealed the number of long-term unemployed has doubled since last year. Those figures were released on the same day that AIB – who bailed Haughey out of a €1m overdraft in 1979 – said it would be giving €40m in bonuses to its executives. What kind of person demands a bonus while being propped up by the taxpayer?

I don't accept we're all 'sharing the burden' while I can see the tiger élite still living in conspicuous opulence. Last week, we learned Sean Dunne is residing on millionaire's row in Connecticut while Nama deals with his debts. No doubt, his Lexus-driving wife – a former gossip columnist – will soon make her mark on the social scene there.

North of Dunne's new residence, former Anglo chief, David Drumm, is attempting to start a new life. He's busy explaining the history of a €210,000 loan from his wife to a debt-restructuring company he owns.

And look, there's developer Paddy Kelly packing to spend Christmas in Hawaii – away from Nama. Kelly, who owes €350m, told the MacGill summer school that he and his wife "tend to do a lot of shopping in America". Another Nama financier, Derek Quinlan, is in Switzerland. Seanie Fitz is probably on a golf course in Spain as you read this.

But it's not just developers who are continuing to live in a bubble: our semi-state officials are too. They've had their salaries 'capped' at €250,000. They're still so high they're snow-capped. What state employee deserves to earn €250k? I wonder if they feel guilty about the bust as they count their money.

Where is the justice Fianna Fáil promised us? The 'pay-back' that would see cars and mansions seized? Without payback, it's impossible for us to 'get over' this mess and move on as Lenihan and Patterson want us to.

None of this is our fault. We shouldn't have to take this punishment-by-proxy. Now is the time to wring election promises from FG/Labour that new laws will be enacted to punish our economic traitors. This is the least we des­erve.

Charlie Haughey's clock chimed again last week. I may have to tighten my belt – but I'm not going to whip myself with it. Neither should you.

dkenny@tribune.ie