There is an almighty locomotive train of a consensus coming down the tracks at us: taxation. Many commentators are demanding that tax increases be substantial and immediate. Can this help resolve the crisis? The answer is: yes and no and, in some cases, it can make it worse. Taxation is, after all, an instrument; like [...]

The RTE Prime Time programme last night contained some of the most misleading (to put it mildly) presentation of facts and subsequent analysis to have been aired in a long time. Make no mistake about it: we are being prepared for the economic abattoir. And if you need any proof that the Left is rapidly [...]

Paul Sweeney, Economic advisor to ICTU, got to shake the hand of the 5th most powerful man in the world, Jean Claude Trichet, yesterday - although he was a little reluctant to do so.
In a new post on the progressive-economy@tasc blog Paul explains his reluctance.
“Here was a very powerful man in a world economy which [...]

As a welcome to the new TASC economic blog progressive-economy@tasc and to acknowledge the first year of Irish Left Review all this week we are publishing one post every  day from the new blog.  In the final one today we are publishing a post by Peter Connell.
Last week David Begg, in outlining ICTU’s 10 [...]

As a welcome to the new TASC economic blog progressive-economy@tasc and to acknowledge the first year of Irish Left Review all this week we are publishing one post every day from the new blog. Today’s post is by David Jacobson.
I can’t help wondering why the people whose theories are responsible for the current crisis continue [...]

Writing in the Irish Economy blog Karl Whelan has a quibble about the argument that developed between Fintan O’Toole and Martin Cullen while discussing the pension levy on Questions and Answers last Monday evening. Specifically, O’Toole reprised his point which he made in the Irish Times that the government was not aware of exactly how [...]

As a welcome to the new TASC economic blog progressive-economy@tasc and to acknowledge the first year of Irish Left Review all this week we are publishing one post every from the new blog. Today is a post by Professor Peadar Kirby, who teaches at the University of Limerick.
The article by Cathal O’Loghlin in yesterday’s Irish [...]

As a welcome to the new TASC economic blog progressive-economy@tasc and to acknowledge the first year of Irish Left Review all this week we are publishing one post from the new blog. Today is a post by ICTU’s Economic advisor, Paul Sweeney.
The remarkable barrage of calls for pay cuts, from both orthodox economists and the [...]

The Irish think tank for action on social change TASC, has just launched Progressive Economy, a new blog for progressive economists, many of whom are part of the TASC Economists’ Network to comment on the Irish economy. While the media is awash with plenty of economic opinion at the moment, the majority of it seems [...]

The above is a graphical representation of a failed bank.
The liabilities consist of deposits, which are promises the bank has made to pay out cash on demand to depositors. We can treat this as a fixed amount, and hence it is in grey. The assets are loans, some of which are performing and some are [...]