This will be a long post, so stay with me if you can:
Countries are in a desperate economic situation for one simple reason—the powerful elites within them overreached in good times and took too many risks. Emerging-market governments and their private-sector allies commonly form a tight-knit—and, most of the time, genteel—oligarchy, running the country rather like a profit-seeking company in which they are the controlling shareholders. When a country like Indonesia or South Korea or Ireland grows, so do the ambitions of its captains of industry. As masters of their mini-universe, these people make some investments that clearly benefit the broader economy, but they also start making bigger and riskier bets. They reckon—correctly, in most cases—that their political connections will allow them to push onto the government any substantial problems that arise.
In Ireland, for instance, the private sector is now in serious trouble because, over the past seven years or so, it borrowed at least $130 billion from banks and investors on the assumption that the country’s property sector could support a permanent increase in consumption throughout the economy. As Ireland’s oligarchs spent this capital, acquiring other companies and embarking on ambitious investment plans that generated jobs, their importance to the political elite increased. Growing political support meant better access to lucrative contracts, tax breaks, and subsidies. And foreign investors could not have been more pleased; all other things being equal, they prefer to lend money to people who have the implicit backing of their national governments, even if that backing gives off the faint whiff of corruption.
But inevitably, oligarchs get carried away; they waste money and build massive business empires on a mountain of debt. Local banks, sometimes pressured by the government, become too willing to extend credit to the elite and to those who depend on them. Overborrowing always ends badly, whether for an individual, a company, or a country. Sooner or later, credit conditions become tighter and no one will lend you money on anything close to affordable terms.
The downward spiral that follows is remarkably steep. Enormous companies teeter on the brink of default, and the local banks that have lent to them collapse. Yesterday’s “public-private partnerships” are relabeled “crony capitalism.” With credit unavailable, economic paralysis ensues, and conditions just get worse and worse. The government is forced to draw down its foreign-currency reserves to pay for imports, service debt, and cover private losses. But these reserves will eventually run out. If the country cannot right itself before that happens, it will default on its sovereign debt and become an economic pariah. The government, in its race to stop the bleeding, will typically need to wipe out some of the national champions—now hemorrhaging cash—and usually restructure a banking system that’s gone badly out of balance. It will, in other words, need to squeeze at least some of its oligarchs.
Squeezing the oligarchs, though, is seldom the strategy of choice among governments. Quite the contrary: at the outset of the crisis, the oligarchs are usually among the first to get extra help from the government, such as preferential access to foreign currency, or maybe a nice tax break, or—here’s a classic Dublin bailout technique—the assumption of private debt obligations by the government. Under duress, generosity toward old friends takes many innovative forms. Meanwhile, needing to squeeze someone, most emerging-market governments look first to ordinary working folk—at least until the riots grow too large.
Eventually, as the oligarchs in Cowen’s Ireland now realize, some within the elite have to lose out before recovery can begin. It’s a game of musical chairs: there just isn’t enough cash to take care of everyone, and the government cannot afford to take over private-sector debt completely.
First, an admission. The above is a quote from Simon Johnson’s excellent essay in the Atlantic in May of this year, The Quiet Coup. But I have modified it ever so slightly. I simply replaced the word ‘Russia’ with ‘Ireland’, and other slight edits to take into account energy versus property. You can see the original here.
Why the modification? Well it demonstrates at exactly the level Ireland is at.
We are a two-bit emerging market economy, dominated by political and business elites. I think it’s an open and shut case. Every word Johnson intended for Russia accurately applies to Ireland. We are almost the definition of a banana republic.
The only difference is in the last paragraph. “Some within the elite have to lose out before recovery can begin.” No. In Ireland, no oligarch property developer will lose out if the government can help it – thanks to the €90 billion NAMA, what will be the largest property ‘firm’ in the world.
The only people who will end up paying are you and me, our children, and our grandchildren. If people think our political leaders are acting out of the interest of the taxpayer they are dead wrong. Our political leaders are acting only in the interests of themselves and their paymaster developers.
Let us examine some of Johnson’s indicators that we are an emerging market, dominated by oligarchs. We could make a checklist:
* “Emerging-market governments and their private-sector allies commonly form a tight-knit—and, most of the time, genteel—oligarchy, running the country rather like a profit-seeking company in which they are the controlling shareholders.”
Check.
* “As masters of their mini-universe, these people make some investments that clearly benefit the broader economy, but they also start making bigger and riskier bets. They reckon—correctly, in most cases—that their political connections will allow them to push onto the government any substantial problems that arise.”
Check.
* “As Ireland’s oligarchs spent this capital, acquiring other companies and embarking on ambitious investment plans that generated jobs, their importance to the political elite increased.”
Check.
* “Growing political support meant better access to lucrative contracts, tax breaks, and subsidies.”
Check.
* “Oligarchs get carried away; they waste money and build massive business empires on a mountain of debt.” Check.
* “Local banks, sometimes pressured by the government, become too willing to extend credit to the elite and to those who depend on them.”
Check.
* “Overborrowing always ends badly, whether for an individual, a company, or a country. Sooner or later, credit conditions become tighter and no one will lend you money on anything close to affordable terms.”
Check.
* “Enormous companies teeter on the brink of default, and the local banks that have lent to them collapse.”
Check.
* “If the country cannot right itself before that happens, it will default on its sovereign debt and become an economic pariah.”
Check.
* “The government, in its race to stop the bleeding, will typically need to wipe out some of the national champions—now hemorrhaging cash—and usually restructure a banking system that’s gone badly out of balance. It will, in other words, need to squeeze at least some of its oligarchs.”
Check.
* “Squeezing the oligarchs, though, is seldom the strategy of choice among governments.”
Check.
* “At the outset of the crisis, the oligarchs are usually among the first to get extra help from the government, such as preferential access to foreign currency, or maybe a nice tax break, or—here’s a classic Dublin bailout technique—the assumption of private debt obligations by the government“.
Check. NAMA.
* “Under duress, generosity toward old friends takes many innovative forms. Meanwhile, needing to squeeze someone, most emerging-market governments look first to ordinary working folk—at least until the riots grow too large.”
Check, minus the riots. Yet.
* “Some within the elite have to lose out before recovery can begin. It’s a game of musical chairs: there just isn’t enough cash to take care of everyone, and the government cannot afford to take over private-sector debt completely.”
Except in Ireland, where we are trying to assume €90bn in private sector debt. Liam Carroll as the elite one losing out? Check.
And so we return to the original question posed: What is wrong with Ireland? My answer is this: We believe we are something we are not.
We believe we have a more mature regulatory environment, a mature, transparent and accountable political system, we believe the media holds our government to account, and we believe that our elected leaders will act in the best interests of citizens. Even the media believes it holds the government to account.
These assumptions are all wrong.
When you examine, even to a minor degree, any aspect of Irish society, you will invariably find a distinct lack of all the above factors. For example captured regulators: The Financial Regulator, the Irish Stock Exchange, the ODCE, ComReg, the Financial Ombudsman.
Whenever and wherever corruption is discovered, nothing happens. Whenever and wherever whistles are blown, nothing happens. We live in a country where the very idea of accountability, or that our politicians are our servants, simply does not exist.
As a nation state, we are a failure. As a democracy, we have failed. As a country we are bankrupt, both morally and financially. We are the emerging market, banana republic of the European Union. Our political system is broken. It is beyond redemption.
Some will reply that I am a socialist, or other such attacks. I am actually right of centre economically, I just recognise what is standing in front of me for what it is. An almost incalculable political and financial mess – generations are being saddled with the debts of the oligarchs, and the taxpayer is being lied to by its own government.
The only hope is this: That the people, in whose hands all power rests, will realise the appalling vista of a broken Ireland – a country in need of radical political reform – and demand that it is changed.
If it is not, everything that has happened, will continue to happen, and we, the citizens, will continue to pay the price.
Please fell free to Digg this :-)
Related links:
Michael Taft reckons NAMA won’t be so bad. Maybe.
Constanin Gurdgiev is less optimistic about NAMA.
Karl Whelan has lots of posts on NAMA
Another question to ask about the Irish political system is – how come all the revolutionary types are on the left?
Where is our version of the right-wing revolutionaries from Poland, Estonia, Czech Republic?
Where’s our Vaclav Klaus?
Where’s the argument for a flat-tax rate?
Here’s a map – the ones in green are flat tax.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flat_personal_income_tax.png
Bet you didnt know this. Well of course – the media would rather not trumpet the fact that even Russia has gone flat tax.
What i’m saying is – where is the right wing revolutionary argument to balance out the left wing in Ireland?
i’ll stop now – but one more point –
good example of “good intentions” and then ending up being part of the “Borg”
George Lee.
Great post Gavin, great debate in the comments as well (so far)
@justinf – Ireland has never really been a left v right society, its always been more of a right v right, with both major parties borrowing the clothes of the left when it suits them – both Garret Fitzgerald and Bertie have at times claimed to be socialists (though even Bertie couldn’t keep a straight face when he said it). Given that the citizenry at large have never been interested in a left v. right debate, perhaps the move now is not to import a champion of the right, rather to look beyond notions of left and right and figure out what works regardless of ideology. Steal a little from all ideologies, if it works, that’s what I say.
Although I’m a member of a political party (and find myself increasingly at its furthest fringe), I’m starting to come around to @eru’s point that it is increasingly the Party Political system itself that is at fault. We are overrepresented for a country of our size, our politicians are paid far too much for the work they do, and yet still manage to sustain an appalling level of corruption. The dynastic nature of it all ensures that power rests within the hands of a few chosen families, passed down from father to son and husband to wife, and leaves the fringe parties the domain of the politically ambitious but ideologically bereft who see it as their only route to power after being excluded from the big two parties by an accident of birth.
The decision by the BCI that may see individuals from outside the Party Political system excluded from national coverage and or public debates on issues like Lisbon II, coupled with rumblings from Gormley on the abolition of our current PR system in favour of a Party List system will only further increase the stranglehold of the parties and the disenfranchisement of the individual.
I don’t have any magic solutions to add to this thread, only my belief that an informed citizenry is key to any change. The recent public debate over the An Bord Snip Nua report filled me with hope, not for any positive outcome, but because so many people actually took the time to read the report and say, “for feck’s sake, this is what our money is being spent on?”.
The right-wing in Ireland went to the wall with the ending of the PD’s as a viable political entity, the right winggers have only Mary Harney’s poorly thought out health strategy and Micheal McDowell to thank for that.
Fianna Fail are virtually the only Right wing party left, Fine Gael might be just right of centre these days but they will probably be going into government with labour which will cancel that out…
Besides after 12 years of right-wing government there aren’t too many “activists” out there who would stand up and defend the indefencible…. The most redical people want a change from the statis quo and will therefore be opt for a more cetre to left leaning alternative government.
I’d just like to add one last thing in responce to justinf’s point about flat tax, I does seem to be a good Idea! By closing loop holes and having everyone on a manageable, fair and equitable system of tax whilst having a knock-on effect on increasing compliance with respect to our tax system…
[...] But don’t tell me we regained our pride by going independent. Pride is not a word in large supply these days. ___________________ Elsewhere Gavin Sheridan [...]
Lambs to the slaughter.
We live in an ever expanding groundhog day with the same shyte for breakfast as though we’d never had it before.
Many valid comments but a truly well observed post to begin with. I wonder not about where we’re going; unfortunately.
“The dynastic nature of it all ensures that power rests within the hands of a few chosen families, passed down from father to son and husband to wife, and leaves the fringe parties the domain of the politically ambitious but ideologically bereft who see it as their only route to power after being excluded from the big two parties by an accident of birth.”
i think you’ve nailed it.
we have to pass anti-nepotism laws.
“Colm Carrigg on August 8, 2009 at 4:22 pm”
read up on Estonia – the experiment started there, and was then copied by other eastern european countries.
in estonia you can fill in your tax return on the back of a postcard.
now think of how many elites in Ireland that very idea threatens. tis no wonder its never discussed.
“Colm Carrigg on August 8, 2009 at 3:58 pm
The right-wing in Ireland went to the wall with the ending of the PD’s as a viable political entity, the right winggers have only Mary Harney’s poorly thought out health strategy and Micheal McDowell to thank for that. ”
i agree with you there – it saddens me that the “right wing” in ireland only seems to produce pseudo-fascist authoritarians.
where are the libertarians?
it seems to me that all poltiical sides in ireland are statist to varying degrees. and if they are all statist, then that points to a political imbalance which produces the very corruption that Gavin has so eloquently pointed out.
Well Justinf, Thanks for that. If wour interested there’s a blog; http://www.cowengate.wordpress.com
On the subject of political change, cutting the No. of TD’s was mentioned in one of the comments above… As well as removal of political parties from the political scene altogether and instead having everyone run as Independent TD’s. Also many people don’t vote which is a fair indictment of the state of democracy in Ireland today. I think these are good ideas on paper but sadly wouldn’t work out in reality.
If TD’s were cut back in number it is obvious where they would be cut from, “THE WEST”, people out here have poor access to healthcare (Clare has only 12 hour accident & emergency service in its County Hospital in Ennis), second grade infrastructure (cant get a train from cork to sligo) and are at a greater exposure to crime because in some places the nearest garda station is 15-20 miles away. Reducing their representation in the Dail will just turn them into second class citizens (as if we weren’t already)…
Whats more, any chance of change within the system will grind to a hault as the seats of the stuffy, old and corrupted TD’s will be protected, (not trying to be agest here) and young people will just be handing out flyers com election time and struggling to get a break in pothole politics, soon there after they will become disolusioned with the system completly and will be syphoned out of politics altogether. This is already a serious problem cutting TD’s will only make it worse.
A solution to this would be to cut the expences accounts and TD’s pay, thus allowing them to learn the true value of their extravigance without being a drain on the public purse!! They call themselves “Public Servants”, they should START SERVING THE PUBLIC!
As for removal of political parties and everyone running as independents… Well if the squabbling was bad enough before with the political parties, I would imagine that it would get a whole lot worse if everyone was at each others throat. How would you run the country?? In the 1980’s several Irish governments relied on indepent TDs for support… as soon as anything negitive that affected that TDs special interests or plot came along he/she or they would vote against the government in a “No-confidence motion” (see RTE’s reeling in the years 1980’s) and thus the government would collapse…
A solution to this would be to introduce a system of ethics for political parties which was leagally backed up, i.e. introducing a blanket ban on all corporate donations and publishing a list of all private donations in excess of E100 to politions regardless of party! Act the “cute hoor” and recieve a life-time ban from politics, loose your pension and recieve a summons for the special criminal court.
And one more thing with regard to protesting by not bothering to vote; “Bad leaders are elected by good people – WHO DON’T VOTE”, If more democrats had come out and voted back in 2000, the WORLD would probably be alot different today… If more reformists voted in Iran a few years ago they could’ve prevented Mahmoud Amidinajad from coming to power there in the first place. In Ireland if more Socialists had come out and voted for Labour in the 2007 we might have had a rainbow government when we needed it the most.
But I guess we’ll never Know…
I dont actually belieive that FF is a right wing party. Its a party of pragmatism. Having said that, if you do a trawl thru of previous manfestos, FF has a left of centre tinge.
Dont get me wrong, FF has social conservatives in abundance….yet with joining the ELDR and ALDE, I expect the Liberal members to come to the fore.
“Its a party of pragmatism.”
maybe thats the entire reason why we got into the mess.
no core principles. all things to all men.
and if you have no core principles – well , you end up looking like New Labour.
“A solution to this would be to introduce a system of ethics for political parties which was leagally backed up, i.e. introducing a blanket ban on all corporate donations and publishing a list of all private donations in excess of E100 to politions regardless of party! Act the “cute hoor” and recieve a life-time ban from politics, loose your pension and recieve a summons for the special criminal court.”
100 per cent agree. thats a good central kernel of an idea that everyone , no matter what the political shade, can subscribe to.
A ban on nepotism wouldnt go amiss either.
Well justin, I don’t know if an out and out ban with regard to children following in their parents political footprints should be enacted (it’s a civil rights issue)…
However, I strongly disagree with the Idea that sons or daughters should be alloud to simply “walk right on in” to a TD’s seat. You want it, you’ve got to earn it! You join the youth wing of which ever party you are interestd in and muck in and help out like all the other young party activists.
If and ONLY if your judged, by your elders, to be competent, intelegent and have the drive to the right thing, not for ones self but for the good of the country as a whole, should you then be alloud to engage in local politics and progress from there… The best statesmen are those with a no-bullshit approach to problem solving, party and ideological interests have to take a back seat.
But this would only work in a perfect world and the world is an imperfect place. The Irish political political system being a prime example of that imperfection.
As for Donnachas point about Fianna Fail being a tinge left of centre… It is a good point, BUT, if you look at NAMA and who it is designed to protect (Developers and Bankers), then look at who is paying for it (tax payers) and then look at who will suffer the crippling cuts to vital public and health services (the young, the old, the sick, the disabled, the impoverished etc. etc.)… the picture is changed some what.
They tell us that it is “the right thing to do” and that in the years to come we will be recapitalised by it, but the sad fact is that it is croneyism in its purest form. Not very left of centre… Bertie Ahern’s “conversion to socialism”, was at best only a populist gag to trick would-be labour voters and at worst a smoke screen to make him look better before he went to the Morriarty Tribuneral.
As for Fianna Fail being a party of pragmatism… well one of the problems with many Irish (and other) politicians is that they are only really good at one thing and one thing only… thet is VOTES, they will sing any song and dance to any tune as long as they get those votes. Doing the popular thing is the main idea! Promise ‘em the sun, moon and stars and that’ll do the job. when you get elected and they ask you to live up to the promises you made; fuck them, blow them off and ignore them.
Politicians should just be frank with the people and treat them like adults, not children. i.e. “I can’t get the old factory to re-open… those jobs are going to go to the places where they can be done the cheapest. But I can promise that we will allow for you all to attend special courses in the Institutes of Technology that will allow you to get up-skilled and thus enable us to attract the kind of industries that will stay here on a more permanent basis etc etc…”
But this would only work in a perfect world and the world is an imperfect place…
* “Enormous companies teeter on the brink of default, and the local banks that have lent to them collapse.”
Check.
Uncheck – what local banks have collapsed?
* “If the country cannot right itself before that happens, it will default on its sovereign debt and become an economic pariah.”
Check.
Uncheck – we have not yet defaulted.
* “Squeezing the oligarchs, though, is seldom the strategy of choice among governments.”
Check
Lets see what happens with some of the developers’ trying to dodge ACC
Interesting fact, most bloggers offer the problems but rarely offer, or are part of, any emerging solution. Bloggin is great, removes the need to be responsible for anything ;)
Anglo. Nationalised before it could collapse under the weight of its own crap.
Sovereign debt. IF the country cannot right itself , we did barely, by writing a blank cheque to our banks in the form of a guarantee.
ACC/Rabo is not doing as other banks by virtue of its non-Irishness. This adds further weight to the oligarch argument (nexus of politicians/developers/bankers) outlined in Johnson’s article.
Interesting fact, based on?
Solutions to what, exactly? Endemic corruption?
just off the phone with my dad in ireland.
apparently the hotels are now looking for taxpayer funded grants to put them into mothball i.e. pay off the loans, lay off the staff, but remain as going concerns rather than going bankrupt.
when things go bad, it is amazing how these people suck at the teat of the taxpayer.
“Colm Carrigg on August 10, 2009 at 11:34 pm”
thinking about it – i think your right. anti-nepotism “laws” would infringe on individual freedom.
it would be nice for political parties to introduce such rules. and that would be the better option. but if they dont – i think the law should be introduced to enforce it.
we have to start from somewhere. and anti-nepotism is one aspect in that renewal of the republic.
Not only are “the hotels …looking for taxpayer funded grants to put them into mothball”, but many have been pocketing tax reliefs to build them in the first place. If you have enough input into the political systerm you can get subsidies to build something there is no market for, or that you are not competent to make a success. You then get bailed out by the taxpayer when the chickens com home to roost.
By the way, does anyone out there know how much the government could save by abolishing section 23 relief on property?
Well justin, don’t get me wrong, I do agree with the idea of the anti-nepotism law, but it would be good if it could be moulded into the frame work of that legally backed up “system of ethics” for political parties…
In reality, this system would never be adopted by the majority TD’s, councilors or government. It would have to be made mandatory in order to garner full complience from all concerned. The simple fact is that the system is self-regulated and that is the biggest hurdle that such legislation would have to get over. God forbid that they would loose out. Although I’m sure that there would be a small few TD’s who would be interested…
However, I can’t help but wonder; what if the mainstream media picked up this Idea, and it started to take root with the public. The people might demand that the system be implemented. It sure would save money on tribunerals and would help to make greed, dishonesty, back stabbing and possibly incompetence in public office a thing of the past…
As for the hotels, there are approximatly 10,000 too many rooms in this country, we simply can’t sustain them. The idea of government/bank run, tax backed hotels will also destroy localised family hotel businesses. This is unfair and anti-competitive. I used to work in a hotel a few years ago and the thought of seeing all the full-time staff who i used to work along side loosing their jobs worries me. That said, alot of hotels were treating costomers unfairly by charging far too much for rooms, food and drink etc.
Since today is the day of the leaving cert. results (congrats to them all) another problem facing young people in Ireland is the fact that they are going to have the burden of up to E30,000 in the form of tuition fees to pay when they finish college, that and the fact that student loans are not as easily gotten as they once were is compounded by the lack of part-time work available to them, as mentioned above. There’s a rough road ahead…
Gavin, I agree with your: “As a nation state, we are a failure. As a democracy, we have failed. As a country we are bankrupt, both morally and financially. We are the emerging market, banana republic of the European Union. Our political system is broken. It is beyond redemption.”
There is no doubt that Irish-style ‘democracy’ has failed. A general election will solve nothing – except a few yahoos from the partisans.
If I bet on a horse and lose – so be it. I am responsible – full stop; yet our oligarchs do not take responsibility for their actions and need long-term financial cossetting.
Everything is relative. I think this save-the-developers NAMA thing is a mis-direction. Who are the bondholders??????? This group was specifically mentioned in Mr Lenihan’s guarantee of 30 September 2008 and have been overlooked in majority of comments.
I look forward to the IMF in charge of Irish finance.
p.s. for any one who disagrees with NAMA, go to the “No to NAMA” group on Facebook!! Join up and invite your friends! People commenting on this blog complained of in-action, well these guys are encouraging people to write to their TDs and are also planning actual street protests against NAMA, provided they get enough people to join! (they need 50,000 people on Facebook). Within 3 days of starting this group on facebook they had 1,500+ members!!
The sad reality is, the majority wont take to the streets, as they are so underinformed… We are just too meek
Well if we just give up then we’ll never know if the NO TO NAMA campagine will be a success… All we need is a minority of people to demonstrate. Once others see this they might take courage from it! Every individual must ask himself or herself if they will be satisfied down the line to have someone elses mistakes dumped on them when they could have come out onto the street and protested againsted it when it actually mattered… There is no point in feeling sorry for our selves when its too late.
Somebody commented that we do not have a left vs right political spectrum. Actually we have three parties trying to pretend that they are centre left. The largest (historically) is aspiring towards getting it’s hands on the nation’s wealth, and exerting the values of the poor on the wealthy. The scond largest is obsessed with keeping the nations wealth in the hands of the wealthy. And the third is (the Champagne Socialists) is obscenely obsessed with exerting the values of the wealthy on all of society, and expressing class differentiation (were you in Trinners or Belfield before the free education system was founded).
Throw in the Greens (hypocrites who will galdly take money from corporate concerns), and the Shinners (who have one foot in the Northern Rock Bank and one foot in a private firing range in Bulgaria. Oh yeah, and the one PD TD. (and even that is more than the country can afford).
The political system is an expression of the Post-Catholic, post-Socialist, post-working class, vulgar, indulgent, delusional, consumerist, I am having whatever I can get away with, and I am making up the rules to suit my self as I go along.
And because everybody does it with Pride, (the official term used instead of the more accurate term ‘arrogance’), the individual is never obliged to take any notice of the rest of the community.
In the last fifteen years, the crows have come home to roost. And most people have been too utterly stupid to notice. But this in itself is not a wholy Irish problem. In the UK (that includes all parts) it is even worse.
Welcome to the Kerry Katona Age.
Well it's an interesting post and an excellent essay but I'm not entirely sure what is wrong with our political system (which you say is broken and beyond redemption). I'm not referring to the behaviours of government or the points 'check'ed above, rather the process by which we elect our representatives. The alternatives would seem to be either 'First past the post' or perhaps a list system. The latter would be a greater change but both are just tweaking. Ultimately the people still do decide. It is really up to the people if they want change. And they have free will to exercise that each election. I suppose trotskyite revolution could pose a theoretical alternative but generally that's reserved for systems where free elections are not held, at least that's my understanding. The people will have to start rewarding and discouraging behaviours at the polling booths if they want change but they have that choice already.
hi, as human nature follows typical trends, i.e. greed, power, self importance, happiness, sadness, violence, we wonder where it all goes wrong, like the monarchy of old “dear subjects” we now have an organised so call elected elites” Us, cannon fodder and peasantry” only you have more comforts in life in comparison to days gone by. Capitalism was and is the ideology of humanity. This is fact “The system” however steps must be take to insure that fairness and humility privile. The elite “The leeches” who rob from the hard work of many and proclaim to have special insight into making money, remember they are using your money as their own private piggy bank , your money is invested in your assets “home” speculative knowledge is applied to grow their pyramid scam. Why I might ask? is there nobody protesting, maybe we Irish are afraid of the garda, the corrupt bunch of I.F.A sons of bitches are the muscle of the elites, the brains are the soulless corrupt political classes and the payed mouth pieces, come on what the fuck are we sheep or men, the best way to really explain how far we have got as “Ireland Inc Public” take a look at the corrupt set up in R.T.E. The banana republic is alive and well, at least the Greeks showed their elites the two fingers, it makes me ashamed to be Irish, with all our drink talk, it any wonder the English invaded.
PS: These thieves have just stolen 24,000 euro from each man women child, to help their friends and sold you a crap 13ftX13ft (approx 169 sq ft) square foot of Irish house, that’s a great investment.
Capitalism excess should, induce a violent reaction to the speculative dreams of others. The selfish mess of human misery, that is the sham Capitalism
clare boy..
well said, should be more people like you brian, bring on the revolution, stand up and be counted fellow Irish men.