What better way to spend a lazy afternoon than reading National Competitiveness Council reports, in particular its submission to the Commission on Taxation? The NCC is full of information but they do have a particular agenda and damn the facts. For instance, Ireland’s low tax rate has driven
‘ . . . . entrepreneurship, [...]

In these recession days we will be inundated with a carnival numbers and percentages. They will come so thick and fast it will be almost impossible to deal with every sleight-of-hand and three-card trick. But we have to start setting the record straight somewhere so I want to start with Fine Gael’s manipulative use [...]

Ah, the haute bourgeoisie - I know the old Scotsman warned us against letting them talk to each other. This is wise counsel but I have found that they can be amazingly open, almost innocent in their discussions. Take the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers July: never mind the amusing language - [...]

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 [...]

The False Pope Conspiracy Was Concocked When Ratzinger Was Still a Boy!!
Did you see the startling revelation in the news that the Vatican has discovered a fake priest who was trying to get in to listen to people’s confessions? Is a big disgrace. But is also a toilet tissue of lies!
This is clearly a diversionary [...]

Here’s a thought courtesy of Cllr. Eric Byrne - a suggestion so common-sensical its’ frightening. Immediately after Bernard McNamara did a runner on the PPPs in Dublin city, Cllr. Byrne proposed that the City Council scrap all such ‘partnership’ proposals and do the following:
Dublin City Council already owns the sites in question. The Council [...]

The advertising agency Whittington, Burgher + Leveque was founded by three soixante-huitards in 1974, in the aftermath of the failure of the European social revolution. Disappointed by the turn of history, the company’s founders nevertheless put their experiences to good use, courting controversy (and in the process getting great publicity!) by taking the Situationist slogans [...]

The Small Firms Association (SFA) has looked deep into the problems of the economy and has come up with a solution: cut people’s wages. Not just cut, but do a right machete job on them. And not just any ol’ wages, but the wages of the lowest paid in society.
Wow, that’s a recipe [...]

Sometimes, it’s the little things that get up your wick. The Sunday Business Post produced one of those little calculations to suggest how expensive it is, how draining on our pockets it is, to increase public sector pay:
‘Each 1 per cent rise in the public pay bill costs the government almost €200 million.’
Geez, that [...]

 
Our man from Ongar, Leo Varadkar, TD, is in madness mode. At a debate on the Future of Social Partnership at the Young Fine Gael Summer School he demanded:
‘ . . . a moderate pay deal that taxpayers can afford. . . This must include major concessions by the unions on business competition.’
Now, [...]