National Competitiveness Council: Rents & Incomes must fall

[HanleyS]

From today's Irish Times:

The NCC said that export-led growth must be targeted in order to secure Ireland’s long-term prosperity. However, if the economy is to make a successful transition from its current reliance on domestic demand, then costs, professional fees, rents and incomes must be brought down to levels seen in competing countries. “Ultimately, a quick adjustment in the price level is preferable to a gradual decline over several years,” the NCC advised in its report.

Competition body urges quick action to cut costs for business - The Irish Times - Wed, Aug 19, 2009
Related threads:
http://www.politics.ie/economy/94288...usinesses.html
http://www.politics.ie/economy/93358...rs-honest.html
http://www.politics.ie/economy/75625...ersus-cut.html
http://www.politics.ie/economy/74255...ls-estate.html

[CitiZenJonredux]

This is a quango yappin about how important their existence is for the Irish consumer in advance of An Bord Snip's implementation.
It's bs. NCC is another useless organ of this body politic.

[Scorpio]

@CitiZenJonredux
SNORE!

The NCC is a body of volunteers. Snip it and you would save... oh... well, nothing.

They're certainly getting their way with the falling rents.
Daft said down 20% already from the peak and the graph of the total stock available to rent looks pretty bad news for landlords.

[Digout]

No shit sherlock, how much did these guys get paid to tell us this?

[Dios]

Reducing wages is pure poison for an economy. How will people spend on goods and services when they are doing a CJH on their belts? There are plenty of first world countries who outcompete low wage countries, and our wages levels don't seem to bother US multinationals based here, or our export rates, some of the highest in Europe, bounding ahead of the rest of the EU.

Maybe the NCC should hire someone who knows what they are talking about.

[Scorpio]

Reducing wages is pure poison for an economy...
Maybe the NCC should hire someone who knows what they are talking about.

Maybe you should actually read the report to see what they recommend. Come back when you have.

[Eye of Angkor]

The route to competitiveness is through a dramatic fall in property values and rents, the hight cost of which requires all those able to negotiate prices to charge more for their services (and why professionals are targeted more than tradesmen, shopkeepers etc. is beyond me).

Collapse rents and the cost of housing and other prices can (and will) fall as people discover that they can compete on price.

It will leave a lot of negative equity, but that only kicks in on the sale of the property. Provided loans are paid off, the adjustment can be absorbed later.

Will NAMA assist in this process? If not, why are we going down this road?

[CitiZenJonredux]

The NCC is a body of volunteers. Snip it and you would save... oh... well, nothing.

Erm they're another useless appendage on our mutant body politic, scrabbling for some pos rep to delay their demise. Volunteers and savings don't come into it, quit reaching.

They're certainly getting their way with the falling rents.

lol, "getting their way" what a crock, they are not responsible for a 20% drop in rents (govt incompetence, developer's avarice is). They could have framed the statement as "Rents still overvalued despite 20% drop". Spin goddamnit, and spin that their govt paymasters (who allocate their budget btw) will benefit from.

Daft said down 20% already from the peak and the graph of the total stock available to rent looks pretty bad news for landlords.

Spin, rent is still overvalued compared to other major EU cities.

*yawn*

[Dios]

Maybe you should actually read the report to see what they recommend. Come back when you have.

So the Irish Times article lied?

Dell anyone?

Dell were leaving one way or the other, which is what happens when you have razor thin margins per unit. The medical companies are actually expanding their operations in the west of Ireland, and I heard a networking manufacturer was moving in as well.

[Dios]

Yes but if our wage costs are higher then they get an even thinner slice of margin.... What was the one way or other about Dell leaving if it wasn't lower margin (driven by higher costs here)?

If Dell wasn't lower margin it would have had less incentive to leave. I don't understand the question.

Yep, the med. companies may expand with all the nice R&D tax breaks - will they stay though when the research is done and they get down to churning out the units? It's then that the labour costs are really going to factor in.

The factories aren't going anywhere either.