Monday, Feb 6th 2012
There has been an important series of posts on Progressive Economy by Michael Burke about the government’s recently published Medium Term Fiscal Statement (MTFS) which includes a series of forecasts. By examining the MTFS we now know that the deficit and debt levels are higher than expected, real growth is not happening (in fact, its contracting) [...]
On Prime Time Tuesday night, debating the Finance Bill, Fianna Fail’s Michael McGrath thought he was scoring a point on Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty by stating:
‘Your plan is to have 80 percent of the [fiscal] correction by increasing taxes and 20 percent by reducing spending. So without any equivocation or [...]
Whatever about the disputes over facilitating the passage of the Finance Bill, what people want to know is what parties are going to do about it when they get into office. And this is where progressives can stop feuding with each other and get the debate back to where it belongs - showing how Budget [...]
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 resolute commitment to the budgetary targets set out in the four-year plan.’
To buy into this nonsense one has to plunge head [...]
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 disappointment - we are still left with the question: what do we do. Just because the [...]
Michael Taft responds to Sinn Fein’s Pre-budget submission.
With the political consensus obsessed with a €15 billion deflationary juggernaut, it’s a relief that one party gets it. Sinn Fein’s pre-budget submission argues for a major stimulus programme combined with a growth-friendly consolidation package that, taken together, would increase growth and job creation. This would put [...]
Michael Burke | Comment is free Dublin’s brave slashers have sent Ireland back into recession
Michael Burke is writing in the Guardian about the Lib/Con coalitions plans to emulate Ireland and argues that by comparing the strategies of Spain, who initiated a stimulus before the EU Commission forced them to abandon it, to Ireland’s slash [...]
On Monday Michael Burke put up an excellent post on the news that the 10-year government debt climbed to 5.7% by close of trading on Friday. Since then of course, we know that yesterday it climbed to over 6%, reaching levels unseen since just before the 750 bn EU bank bailout was put in place [...]
Fair dues to the Government. They take old news, an old set of policy projections, repackage it with a shiny new bow, and launch a fresh programme - which is presented as a stimulus and investment-driven job creation programme. And a lot of folk go along with it (though some like Miriam Lord sees the [...]
According to Brian Cowen today, NTMA’s Oliver Whelan has “made it very clear that we are seen as a stable economy, forging ahead with taking decisions.” This was said in relation to Moody’s decision to downgrade Irish debt to Aa2 from Aa1. So, while rating agencies carry the usual health warning considering their part in [...]
