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Separate visions: reform the civil service and slice budget

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:08:21 GMT

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan hit two very large nails on the head when he launched the latest initiative to make the public service more efficient and cost-effective.

Billions in losses may have to be written off in one fell swoop

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:44:39 GMT

A comment from a senior stockbroker the other day may have summed up the banking problem. “While banks say publicly that they don't need fresh funds, most are privately resigned to the fact that it's inevitable,” he said.

Return to old orthodoxies is not best way

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:40:17 GMT

I may have observed before that almost everything I was told about economics in college 40 years ago was later almost universally held to be complete rubbish.

ECB has a very influential role to play in recovery

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:15:57 GMT

It’s a rotten old job, right enough, but someone's got to do it. A colleague kindly reminded me that, some time ago, when he was looking for some cheer about cuts in interest rates, I glumly replied: “If interest rates come down, it will be because things are bad.”

Brendan Keenan: Public finance fall may be worse than expected

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:05:08 GMT

Before the 2002 election, I observed that one reason for wanting Fianna Fail re-elected would be the exquisite pleasure of watching them clean up the mess they had created in their bid to get re-elected.

The ‘Breakfast Roll man’ is in need of a second chance

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:57:55 GMT

Today, the archetypal Breakfast Roll Man is looking at his ghost estate. Not one sold. The three auctioneers don't return his calls. Nothing is working

People may pay for bank bill

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:01:47 GMT

There is a scene in the film Zulu, where the thin red line is awaiting a final, probably fatal, attack and the sergeant-major berates a soldier for having his top button undone. Good for morale, no doubt, but hardly relevant.

Banks in need of real cash

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:43:09 GMT

If you are of that cast of mind, your reaction to last week’s extraordinary global rate cut will be, "Wow, I didn't know things were that bad!" You would probably be right.

Recession may ease a crash in confidence

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:28:51 GMT

‘Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Buddy can you spare a dime?’ ran the most popular of the songs about the Great Depression of the 1930s. To people then, it appeared that capitalism had run its course.

Banking weaknesses have to be dealt with

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:30:19 GMT

It may seem a long way from the Cork builders John F Supple to the mighty New York investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Beware of the midnight mugging on October 14

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:00:23 GMT

One of many possible reasons for having an early Irish Budget in October may be contained in the fact that new taxes on the “old reliables” — drink, fuel and and tobacco — would come into force at midnight on October 14.

Early Budget will have only a limited impact

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:31:22 GMT

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

With inflation looming, the ECB has tough choices ahead

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:11:58 GMT

These days, it is as hard for a central bank to keep its reputation intact as a Victorian lady captured by pirates.

Can ‘golden rule’ be met?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:11:03 GMT

Have our mess bills exceeded our pay? That was the fate which befell the British Raj officer in Noel Coward's hilarious song — and we know what happened to him!

Give us serenity to see out economic turmoil

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:00:58 GMT

The famous prayer attributed to the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr asks for the serenity to accept the things one cannot change, and the courage to change the things one can. Shrewdly, Dr Niebuhr also asked for the wisdom to know the difference.

A spoonful of Reaganism can help the inflation medicine to go down

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:00:13 GMT

Two weeks ago we learned that retail sales in the UK fell 3.9% in June and that Tim Besley, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, voted at the last committee meeting for an interest rate increase. This combination is rather intriguing.

Donkey image must not replace the Tiger

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:22:51 GMT

Membership of the euro was responsible for much of the property bubbleA LONG time ago I had occasion to phone someplace in middle America. The receptionist could not have been more surprised if she had received a call from Narnia.

View From Dublin: Innovation failure is costly to global trade

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:00:58 GMT

As research and development units stall, it's becoming apparent that more damage was done to the economy by the dotcom bust than we ever realised