On flight path to disaster but no-one knows how to land

[SPN]

I very rarely agree with David Quinn, however .......

On flight path to disaster but no-one knows how to land

OK, it's already been used as a metaphor, but it's so good I'm going to use it in any case. The Irish economy is like US Airways Flight 1549. Following a collision with a flock of wild bankers our economy's engines have been destroyed. The 'plane' and all its passengers are hurtling towards disaster. Our one hope rests with the pilot. Will he have the nerve and the skill to land us safely in the nearest river?

.....

But when the economy was flying high, they demonstrated very little prudence. The risks we were taking in flying so high, so fast were pointed out by a handful of economists like David McWilliams, George Lee and Morgan Kelly. But like Cassandra, their prophecies of doom were ignored.

Can anyone truthfully say that if Labour and Fine Gael had been in power the economy would be in better shape today than it is? It is extremely doubtful. They were all for flying high and fast as well.

.....

Our government, our entire political class, our public service, our banks and businesses, the vaunted social partners were not prepared for this emergency. They had no contingency plan to fall back on that could get us out of this situation, let alone the skill to carry it out.

But looking around the world, no-one seems to have a master plan. A few months ago we thought Gordon Brown might have one but the British economy is now suffering its worst slump since the end of World War II. The lines of credit are still frozen.

Now we all hope that Barack Obama will be our Chesley Sullenberger and land the world economy safely. But his emergency master plan, unveiled this week, is a Frankenstein's monster of a thing that might well throttle the very thing it's intended to serve.

.....

But then, only a fool would imagine that anyone on the left of the political spectrum would fit that bill. The left is far too fond of gigantically wasteful public spending projects, is too inclined towards protectionism, and is too much in the pocket of the trade unions to be our saviour. Massive borrowing drives up debt, protectionism is a policy of beggar my neighbour (and ultimately myself as well), while the third pits the interests of one section of society -- the unions -- against the common good.

Discuss:

[BodyofEvidence]

changin the flight crew would be a start.

[jc_ie]

I read a similar article that compared our "soft landing"(Remember that phrase anyone?) to a controlled decent into terrain. Its when a plan comes out of a cloud bank or some such and finds its right at a moutain or ground level with no time to react.


Im not a memeber of either but i doubt FG or Labour would have had such a close relationship with the developers as FF did.

The point of the article seems to be
"Yes they have screwed up but would the other side have done any better?"

Thats a bit of side track. The last 10-15 years have been unbridled free market low regulation reagnomics and are ending in disater.
I dont see any harm in letting the other side in with a shout. They couldnt screw things up even more right?

Are the people who lead us into this mess the people to lead out of it?

[wombat]

There is no evidence to support the argument that a FG/Labour govt. would have got us into the current mess. Our problems arise from cronyism on a huge scale, caused by FF being too long in power. Neither of the other parties have the same relationship with the property/ building industry that FF have and so would not have had the same incentive to pump up the property bubble. The external problems would have caused instability in a FG / Labour govt. as they seem to have opposite attitudes to the public service but again, would we have all the quangos if FF were not in power? If the public service had not expanded and if Benchmarking had led to increased productivity, we would not need the cutbacks to the same extent. The reason the levy is being introduced is because the public sector wage bill is too high and the govt. don't want to reduce it through the alternative methods of layoffs or wage cuts.

[SPN]

Im not a memeber of either but i doubt FG or Labour would have had such a close relationship with the developers as FF did.

Their Councillors never seem to have problems granting dodgy planning permissions, so one presumes they have some relationship.

The point of the article seems to be
"Yes they have screwed up but would the other side have done any better?"

Thats a bit of side track. The last 10-15 years have been unbridled free market low regulation reagnomics and are ending in disater.
I dont see any harm in letting the other side in with a shout. They couldnt screw things up even more right?

Have you been listening to Labour recently? They want us to borrow more, and cutback less.

They never tell us where we can go to borrow though! Maybe they haven't realised that the amount of Sovereign Debt that will be required this year, as every other Country runs budget deficits, far exceeds the available pot.

Are the people who lead us into this mess the people to lead out of it?

What is the least worst alternative?

[Simbo67]

Wait a second, I thought we had a soft landing in 2007?

[wombat]

I suspect that a FG Labour alternative is off the agenda - it is impossible to underestimate Eamonn Gilmore's ego - he will continue telling us that "yes he can" until the shine wears off Obama. It is time FG faced facts and realise that Labour will not want to join them in govt. Labour will get the votes of the 2 teacher family and FG should try and win the support of the private sector. They need to get back to their message of cutting public spending, not increasing it as Labour want.

[SPN]

I suspect that a FG Labour alternative is off the agenda - it is impossible to underestimate Eamonn Gilmore's ego - he will continue telling us that "yes he can" until the shine wears off Obama. It is time FG faced facts and realise that Labour will not want to join them in govt. Labour will get the votes of the 2 teacher family and FG should try and win the support of the private sector. They need to get back to their message of cutting public spending, not increasing it as Labour want.

That is a very good point.

I have a suspicion that FF could try and go populist very handy after the battering their TDs got today, but if FG take the bait and try to follow the herd we are f*cked!

[BodyofEvidence]

with FF in charge we are more like this....

[Utopian Hermit Monk]

"Can anyone truthfully say that if Labour and Fine Gael had been in power the economy would be in better shape today than it is? It is extremely doubtful. They were all for flying high and fast as well."


Most people in Ireland "were all for flying high and fast as well". The delusions of grandeur ("economic miracle", "one of the richest ... happiest ... best quality lifetsyle ...", etc.) infected society as a whole (apart from the most disadvantaged, who became practically invisible).

I returned to Ireland at the height of the much-vaunted 'boom', after several years working on a project in a so-called '3rd World' country. I was profoundly shocked. The arrogance of many Irish people was matched only by their obvious incompetence. The amount of money being squandered on all sides was staggering - endless consultants' reports (largely worthless vanity exercises), State-funded quangos and politically expedient projects of all kinds (obviously unproductive, when one began to look for concrete results/benefits), and so on. Coming home to this from a desperately poor country, where, by necessity, precious resources must be used carefully and wisely, I regularly found myself left speechless with anger.

The pervasive attitude seemed to be: "grab as much as possible for as long as possible". Medical, legal and business elites were raking in the dosh for all they were worth. Further down the feeding-frenzy chain, even small domestic repair/maintenance jobs became a blatant, shameless rip-off.

And all of this was merrily led by our grossly over-paid political masters and mistresses, of all persuasions. However, these elites were simply the rats propagating the social plague. Our entire society became contaminated. Even people of modest means suddenly felt the need for a flashier car, a more upmarket address, additional annual holidays in the sun or snow, regular trips to the latest, hippest eateries and ridiculously expensive coffee joints. Even kids became overweight shopaholics!

Probably, a change of flight crew would be a useful first step in the prolonged detoxification process needed by Irish society. But the passengers on Flight EI-2009 need to take a good look at themselves also!