If one were to look at the headline rate – GDP – you’d say, well, it’s not great in Ireland but we’re doing better than the Eurozone. After all, the EU Commission is now projecting…
Tagged By Deflation
The Economy Will Recover – But Not in 2012
If I hear one more time that we have exited the recession I’m going to put my head through the computer screen. We’ve come to expect this line from Cabinet Ministers. But when commentators and…
Save Our Public Services 2: Cutting Public Sector Jobs Will Not Reduce the Fiscal Deficit
There may be all sorts of reasons to cut public services, but reducing the fiscal deficit is not one of them. I repeat: we can cut the number of public sector employees – but it…
Ignore. Downplay. Deny.
It’s bad enough the debate has not asked the fundamental question of why, after a series of austerity budgets, the deficit did not fall, borrowing costs shot through the roof and growth rates were slashed….
War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Deflation is Stimulus
Welcome to the New Year, same as the old year – if commentary is anything to go by. And to get the year going Colm McCarthy has produced this gem: ‘The best stimulus package is…
After the Anger
The anger I’m referring to is not about the meltdown in my broadband, my modem, my phone line – which has kept me off-line for the last two weeks. After the anger, the rage, the…
Don’t Cry for Me, Little People
The ESRI’s Autumn commentary (full commentary available on November 21st) was just one big writedown for 2011. From the three months previous, they revised downwards the following: GDP: from 2.7 to 2.2 percent GNP: from…
Unemployment, Emigration and Growth
The seasonally adjusted unemployment figures show a fall of 6,500 signing on the live register. This is totally due to emigration. In fact, it is highly likely that the figures would have risen and not…
Four-Year Plan Will Damage Economy and Society
Dan O’Brien argues that abandoning the four year plan to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP by 2014 would be insanity (Irish Times Oct 21 2010). He is wrong. The cosy policy consensus that…
The Reaper Cometh!
The IMF released their latest ‘World Economic Outlook’ (WEO) last week. The WEO is a twice yearly publication in which IMF economists try to predict near and medium term economic developments – the WEO also,…
Stop Cheerleading Us Down the Deflationary Spiral
This meeting today between Fianna Fail, The Green Party, Fine Gael and Labour is difficult to fathom. Reading reports you get the feeling that the media is reporting from the other side of the looking…
Spending and cutting, no, spending, no, cutting, no taxing. Ah… no taxing.
Consider this… Fine Gael said last night it would back the Government’s four year economic strategy to reduce the deficit, but insisted it favoured cutting spending rather than raising taxes. The party’s communications spokesman Leo…
IBEC and the Low-Paid: The Bloodletting. The Recession Diaries – October 6th
It’s pre-budget submission time and IBEC has come out with a barn-stormer. They have all the usual demands we’d expect: more fiscal contraction, no increase in marginal tax rates, maintain our ultra-low corporate tax rate,…
An Economy for the Common Good
The crisis is deepening within our society, current and future generation of working people, small businesses, family farmers, self-employed, the growing ranks of unemployed and the poor are and will be forced to pay a…

