It is amazing how many people who criticise the government for having a deficit, also criticise them for attempting to reduce it. These charges should be further increased, it is ridiculous to borrow money to fund people from well off families to do arts degrees. Nothing to do with wages in these sectors remaining large and number employed not falling. Join Date: September Education was already the among the most efficient in Europe, yet there has been a reduction in the numbers employed.
You cannot have a further reduction unless there is a reduction in service, yet people are continually agitating for more education rather than less. Reduction in temps. As you say there has been a reduction in numbers and wages have not gone up. So any increase in charges in the sector reflect an attempt by the government to fund the damage caused by private sector speculation rather than any increase in cost. Lu Tze.
Join Date: December Have to say - I know the numbers and I know the state we are in, but why do threads keep popping up speculating when we'll default and what the IMF will do?? It's a bit like scaremongering - although I know it's not coz some people out there are genuinely worried that it will happen. I just think it's highly unlikely. Obviously it would be good from the point of view that it would make certain sections of society wake up and realise that they aren't just entitled to a big wage, it would make the Government cop on etc,etc.
But realistically, it would just be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Any "good" it might do would be offset by the level of damage it did. I think that one thing that people forget is that we have a level of personal debt that the Greeks don't. The IMF, I would imagine, should they come in here, would have to tread carefully with raising taxes and cutting wages, for the simple reason that people would be defaulting on mortgages left, and centre, which would affect the banks The mortgages are the massive elephant in the room here.
People would probably be able to take quite a bit more pain realistically , if they didn't have to pay out so much in mortgage payments every month. And I know I'm going to get the usual "nobody made them get a mortgage" brigade out in force, but it's a fact. When taking into consideration what can be done to help the economy, it's a fact that HAS to be taken into account. How do you strike the balance between raising Gov income and lowering expenditure yet still allowing people to repay their mortgages, so the banks don't get hit even further?
It's a very tricky line to walk really Its true that there is allot of overpaid tax payer money people in this country, and there is allot of unnecessary tax breaks.
I think the whole country needs to be brought down a peg or two. Ireland doesn't need to borrow any more money in In a couple of months there will be a definitive figure on the bank losses and a proposed budget. Interest rates will drop, with a bit of behind the scenes activity by the ECB.
Provided the international economy stays on course , there will be whinging in general and further threads about the IMF, but they will only come here if their plane happens to refuel at Shannon. You see I reckon that's a pretty big condition to take for granted. We're really not sure whats going to happen in the states, there's still a good chance it will double dip.
Europe is looking fairly ok I'll admit although its probably going to be a pretty staggered recovery, and that brings me to my point which is that this country really doesn't produce much of substance and we are largely dependent on and tied to external factors. What if demand falls for our non native exports, within Europe and the US?
To get an idea of this, scroll down to the bottom of the document, to the part called annex 1: provision of data. That's every WEEK, not every month, or every three months. It's the detailed way this is set out in the document that is really humiliating. For example, the Department of Finance has to give "information on the main government spending and receipt items -- weekly, on Friday, reporting on the previous Thursday.
Certainly it leaves no room for back sliding. Particularly spending over-runs. And that's just one example. The document has a very long list of agreed changes that are to be made in the finances of the Irish state and in the Irish banks and the reporting time to the IMF and the EU on each change is set down.
They have to give detailed information on deposits every month, including how long deposits are for, whether they're from individuals, companies or other banks. On the state payroll, for example, the document states that the numbers and paychecks of all state workers have to be reported to the EU and the IMF every three months.
All these state sector workers will have to meet savings targets within nine months or their pay will be cut to make the savings required.
The document also includes details of extra taxes, like property taxes and water charges, that are to be introduced. Much of what is in the bailout conditions was expected. We all knew that massive cuts in spending and heavy increases in taxation were on the way.
But the detail of some of it is surprising. Like the specific targeting of Ireland's overpaid professionals -- especially the lawyers and doctors -- and the statement that their charges have to be driven down within nine months. This will be done by opening up the "closed shop" of the various professions so that people can get in more easily, and there will be much more competition.
Also interesting is the way the document talks about the sale of semi-state companies, with the proceeds being used to reduce the national debt. That means fast action on huge cuts in government spending, no matter how painful. It also means taking much more tax from those in jobs, especially higher earners. It's all about balancing the books as quickly as possible.
Most of the details are changes that the Irish government has been promising for years, but never had the cojones to implement. These changes are about shrinking a government and state sector that has become way too big and way too costly.
Another of the vested interests here are the state sector workers, the only area of the Irish economy in which the unions are still all powerful. The government has been terrified of tackling them and still clings to the doctrine of social partnership, a system which has meant no strikes but very high wages. State workers here earn far more than their counterparts in Northern Ireland, for example. As tax revenue dried up over the past three years, the government tried to reduce the enormous state payroll bill by cutting pay slightly.
The now infamous Croke Park Agreement with the state sector unions over a year ago was supposed to deliver further savings by greater efficiency. In return the unions were promised there would be no further pay cuts and no forced job losses.
Many commentators were expecting a bailout later rather than sooner. While it is true that Ireland can stay out of the bond market for now, many of our European partners do not have the same luxury.
As markets drive up yields on Irish bonds, other members of the euro zone are being dragged along for the ride. With the contagious effect of our debt crisis spreading to our neighbours, markets are even questioning the long-term viability of EMU. This has already been noted by many commentators. In March , the IMF did what critics have demanded for years by discontinuing the use of structural performance criteria — the only binding structural conditions in IMF arrangements.
This is a notable change in the direction of policy, as it implies the Fund is getting out of the business of micro-reforms and focusing on macroeconomic policy. Even more importantly, it means that the necessary impetus for political and economic reform must originate from Ireland, bailout or no bailout.
Perhaps if the markets refuse to lend any more money it will once and for all make the Irish people face up to the mess they have created. There is nothing to be proud of in the fact that over three years since Northern Rock July all Cowen and Lenihan have done is add dozens of billions to the national debt with zero reform because they prefer to rack up debt than govern properly.
The markets and those outside thecountry can see the mess far more clearly and have no problem knowing what needs to be done. I cringe when I see the news reports as they show the likes of Dick Roche, who has even less gravitas than Biffo, as the mouth piece and then they show some old farmer collecting his cheese — do people not understand the damage these images do to the perception of whether Ireland can sort out its mess?
The second concern held by the Brians, after retaining power for a short while longer, is their political legacy. While the population at large may not identify this yet- the true story of themismanagement of the crisis since September will record the ineptitude and arrogance of this regime, small comfort that will be!
On the basis that you get money when you do not need it, so that you have it when you cannot get it. It is a pity that this maxim was not followed more systematically by banks and Governments here during the past 15 years.
0コメント