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View from Dublin

Brian Cowen and his government face some tricky decisions

Early Budget will have only a limited impact

When the facts changed, the great economist John Maynard Keynes changed his mind. Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan changed the date.
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Inside View from Dublin

Low wage or not, there's no escape from tax burden

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

We must all pull together in this time of national emergency. So, in that spirit, I think I can be of assistance to Brothers Begg, O'Connor et al. You are looking in the wrong place, comrades.
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Neelie calls the shots and she can’t be ignored

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

This is not perhaps the wisest thing to say about the EU Competition Commissioner in this day and age, but I cannot resist it — hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
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We have to find a way to protect banks from themselves

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

A puppy, they say, is for life. Before you rescue that poor, helpless creature, remember that this is a responsibility which will continue for years after the novelty has worn off. Just like the banks.
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To fix current tax issues we must go back... to the future

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

There comes a point in life when one becomes convinced that they did things better in the old days.
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Taxes will rise and incomes fall: that is the grim reality

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

In the end, the most significant bit of the new Programme for Government between Fianna Fail and the Green Party could be the bit about helping people who cannot pay off their mortgages or other personal debts.
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The public sector is in trouble but what of our services?

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

I HAD one of those uncomfortable calls, from a low-paid government worker, after the CSO survey again showed a significant gap between earnings in the public and private sectors.
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Let’s not lose sight of the true cause of financial catastrophe

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Private debt is the cause of the crisis, government borrowing is a symptom
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Crisis has been bad but road to recovery will be tough too

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

"give me 500 billion dollars and I'll show you a good time too," the legendary wit and investor Warren Buffett said at the beginning of the financial rescue operations.
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NAMA or not, the issue is trust

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

The most frequent comment that I heard after the Nama Dail announcement hardly seemed to get a mention in the debate. It was amazement and rage that a little building society like Irish Nationwide could have â‚¬8bn in development loans to transfer to the bank rescue agency.
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Will Ireland pay the price for a balanced economy?

Tuesday, 1 September 2009

Peter Sutherland recently made a scathing dismissal of all the talk about the IMF (International Monetary Fund) having to rescue the Republic of Ireland.
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Republic may have to spend its way out of this recession

Tuesday, 25 August 2009

Saving is often thought of as virtuous. As youngsters, many of us were taught to “save for a rainy day”. In economics, national saving equals investment by definition.
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We must come to terms with ‘mediocrity of our fortunes’

Tuesday, 18 August 2009

I have borrowed the following quotation from Martin Wolf of the ‘Financial Times', who borrowed it from Adam Smith's ‘The Wealth of Nations', merely substituting “Ireland” for Smith's original “Great Britain”.
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Pressure mounts on government as the budget deficit continues to grow

Tuesday, 11 August 2009

Things took a bit of a turn in July. Unfortunately, they took a turn for the worse. The average reader or viewer might be a bit disappointed by this.
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What will be the price of the bank rescue scheme for the Republic?

Tuesday, 4 August 2009

We knew what the Republic’s bank rescue scheme, NAMA (National Asset Management Agency), was meant to do. Now, after the publication of draft legislation, we know more or less how it will do it. What we do not yet know is the cost.
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Simplicity is the key to bank rescue but is it even possible?

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Despite what you may have heard or read, the bank rescue National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is not Mission Impossible.
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If we don’t even know our banks, we’ll never solve their problems

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

“What is the banks?” the Sean O’Casey character Joxer Daly might have asked if he were around today. It is a harder question than it looks, and it has not really been answered satisfactorily.
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Ireland rows to safer port as tide turns

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Sick of the two-week sun break with the kids? Tired of adventure holidays and found them, well, just a little too adventurous?
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Much of our wealth has gone — now the question is, who will lose what?

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

The most interesting bits of the April Budget in the Republic — such as cancelling the disgraceful slush fund known as ministerial pensions — have already disappeared like snow in spring.
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ESRI finds positive signs amid deep economic gloom

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

You've got to accentuate the positive, Bing Crosby sang. That's not easy when you're in the middle of what looks like the worst recession in any developed economy since the 1930s. But the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is doing its best.
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Irish ministers must move now to steady ship

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

The cry most often heard in the land is: “This is not my fault. Why should I pay?” It is a complaint, and a question, which strikes at the heart of democratic political systems.
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