In the last post, I suggested that some of the arguments regarding the relative poverty measurement were starting to be answered. Now let’s start some new arguments - but, as always, in a positive way; namely, how much tax do those on high incomes pay and is it enough or too much.
For some time, many [...]

Yesterday I talked to Michael Burke, an economist with 25 years experience working in the Financial Services sector in the UK, including a 5 years period as a senior economist in Citibank. Recently he entered the economic debate here by saying that the Government’s current strategy of cutting government spending could lead to an even [...]

In a couple of excellent recent posts on Progressive Economy Michael Burke and Michael Taft look separately at two pieces of analysis of the current economic situation for Ireland by the European Commission and find that all is not as we are often led to believe.
How Unique is Ireland’s Economic Crisis?
In Michael Burke’s post he suggests that [...]

So, Professor John O’Hagan wants to cut economic growth, undermine business profits and throw more people out of work while saving only a fractional amount on the borrowing requirement; not to mention the risk of embedding debt into the economy going forward. Not a good day’s work.
Now, I’m positive Professor O’Hagan doesn’t want any of [...]

IBEC’s recent quarterly review should give us pause. They are one of the few groups who attempt to project economic growth up to 2013 - and the numbers are not inspiring. They suggest that Government projections are wholly optimistic and that, on current trends, the 2013 target date to bring our public finances into order [...]

Such is the success of the National Treasury Management Agency, it has created a new economic and fiscal pitch for us – one that progressives should now seriously consider playing on. I won’t go over the tedious and ill-founded arguments – that Ireland’s fiscal plight is such that the international markets won’t continue lending to [...]

Over the next few days there will be considerable analysis of the ESRI’s current quarterly review. I’d like to highlight just one projection - the rising annual deficit.
There are two things to remember: the one and only goal of Government fiscal strategy has been to contain the deficit. They have set no targets for job [...]