With the pay talks nearly at an end, IBEC, in the form of its representative here on earth - our friend Turlough - is warning of the gravest repercussions if Irish employees are granted the right to collective bargaining.  Now, this is a right by law that employees in almost every industrialised country [...]

It seems that nationalisation is all the rage these days. The takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, if it does not put paid to the notion that housing finance is too important to be left to the private sector, at least suggests that it needs that proverbial ‘heavy hand’ of the state. [...]

The Irish Times leader writer is in an upbeat mood - or, at least, sliver-lining gazing.  With the prices of oil and basic food commodities falling, this hopefully will take some of the inflationary pressure out of the European economy and thus allow interest rates to be cut.  This hopefully will facilitate a pick-up in [...]

What a trooper - Denis O’Brien riding shotgun through the radioactive land that is our economy to bring us the good news of recovery and redemption. The masses have waited and are not disappointed. The band plays in the main square, the children toss rose petals on the pot-holed ground and the [...]

You know its recession time - the unemployed are getting hammered. Mary Hanafin, straight from slashing the education system in her previous portfolio, is now getting her hooks into those who have been thrown out of work. Why? To save money. Apparently, there are queues of people ripping off the social welfare system. Let’s go [...]

Retraining is all the political rage. To deal with rising unemployment and slowing job creation, the opposition parties are demanding a programme of retraining - in particular, those being laid off in the construction sector. No one, of course, is opposed to that. It makes sense. Yes, let’s retrain and retrain [...]