My oh my. My assertion that Ireland is a low-waged economy and that public sector wage cuts will have little impact has generated a lot of comments, some of them challenging my contention and the use of statistics. I had intended to do a piece today on Sean Fitzpatrick’s legacy to our economy but as [...]

Ever get that sinking feeling - like your tied down to the railway tracks and the train is coming around the bend? And your rescuers - they’re actually waving the train on. Yes, in times like these it takes a brave soul who can kick back and party.
In recent days we have been [...]

The late, great monetary economist Hyman Minsky (1986:110), quoting Nobellist James Tobin, once wrote of economics theory that:
“the terms in which a problem is stated and in which the relevant information is organised can have a great influence on the solution”.
Minsky goes on to write:
“But the way the problem is stated and the identification of [...]

The newspaper articles read like war reports - from the economic front-line on which we are all trapped The new CSO figures on unemployment confirm this. Already, leading economists are suggesting the jobless rate could exceed 12 percent by year’s end, making projections made only last week already out of date.
It’s depressing enough [...]

There is much in Michael Taft’s ‘Towards a New Economic Narrative‘ that most socialists can agree with. The state must take measures to protect the majority of its population from the ravages of unemployment and recession.
So, yes, we need a new social housing programme, a school building programme, a conservation maintenance programme for older housing, [...]

Last week’s resignation by Equality Authority head Niall Crowley has focussed belated attention on a round of Budget cuts which, at the time, went largely unnoticed - certainly by the general public.
In October, the Government decided that over 40 public bodies should be abolished, amalgamated or absorbed into the relevant Government departments.  Budget 2009 [...]

From a Green perspective there is little I would disagree with on Michael Taft’s analysis. Differences where they exist are more to do with emphasis than philosophical direction. Budget 2009, contrary to much of the reportage of its contents subsequently, has quite clearly hitched itself to a borrowing wagon than it has to the curbing [...]

Michael Taft’s 10 point plan for addressing the profound problems which face the Irish economy is an excellent starting place for discussion of the response of the left.  Its major strength is that it recognizes that we cannot get beyond the current impasse without a comprehensive list of separate but intimately related changes in the [...]

Did anyone catch it?  Stephen Collins did but he didn’t give us the maths.  When Minister Lenihan introduced the Finance Bill he made a small amendment in the new income levy, imposing an extra one percent on incomes above €250,000.  In doing so he put forward two statistics:  first, that this would net the state coffers €60 [...]

During the unkind years of the neo-liberal consensus, which were dominated by the free-market/small-government/low-tax/eat-what-you-kill/greed-is-good mentality that pretty well everyone now recognises to have been a failure, it was exceptionally difficult for the Labour party in Ireland to promote itself as anything more than ever-so-slightly left-of-centre without fear of electoral annihilation.  Though it battled away manfully, [...]