This week various obituaries to TK Whitaker were constant in their praise of Mr Whitaker’s ability to break with conventional wisdom. It is ironic that many of these obituaries came from people deep inside the Irish establishment who have never questioned Ireland’s conventional wisdom in their lives.
I suppose that’s why they are deep in the establishment. The establishment rewards conventional thinking. In this regard, Mr Whitaker, it appears, was different.
He had the courage and the intelligence to see through the Irish conventional wisdom of the 1950s and realise that our future was an open, trading future, rather than the neurotic isolationism of De Valera and his ilk.
It is hard to overstate how revolutionary Mr Whitaker’s alternative vision of Ireland in the 1950s must have seemed to the old Civil War warriors. Here was a young economist telling them that everything they had believed was wrong. Their conventional wisdom was leading the country down an economic and social cul-de-sac. Even though it appears totally logical now, Mr Whitaker’s plan for Ireland in the late 1950s was a radical departure from the economic conventional wisdom and status quo of the previous 45 years.
The term “conventional wisdom” was coined by JK Galbraith to describe ideas that are so commonplace and accepted in society that they are resistant to facts that might diminish them. Conventional wisdom is articulated and upheld by conventional people. The conventional man, according to Galbraith, is the type who “when faced with the choice between changing his mind and finding proof not to do so, gets busy looking for the proof”.
Therefore, the conventional man dismisses those people who question the conventional wisdom as cranks, mavericks or eccentrics. This is how conventional wisdom becomes a self-evident fact rather than just an idea or policy to be questioned, debated and ultimately overruled, if necessary.
The conventional wisdom in time becomes a slogan, which replaces hard thinking. This conformity of view makes those who repeat the slogan highly susceptible to groupthink.
Because Ireland is a small country, groupthink at the top can take hold quickly. We saw this most recently with the ‘soft landing’ brigade during the boom.
Ultimately, as Galbraith observed, conventional wisdom is rarely, if ever, overturned by some brilliant countervailing argument that persuades the conventional man to change his mind. Conventional wisdom is only brushed aside by the great march of events. Recently, in Ireland the economic collapse was the event that smashed the ‘soft landing’ conventional wisdom.
Back in Mr Whitaker’s day, the great event or series of events was the abject failure of the Irish Republic to provide a living for its citizens. In the 1950s, close to half a million people emigrated to England alone. The State was bankrupt, out of ideas, close to collapse and quickly running out of people.
Events forced the country to change course, allowing us to forge a new future and open up. Had the economy not collapsed in the 1950s, the isolation of De Valera might have continued for another 10 years.
That change of course and that opening culminated, together with the UK, in Ireland joining the EEC. There was never any question of Ireland joining the EEC without Britain. We joined in 1973 with the UK and Denmark. The rest is history, the history of our lives.
I wonder now, 44 years later, whether Ireland’s EU membership is a similar accepted truth like the Ireland First policy of Dev and his mates? Is it a kind of slogan that has replaced hard thinking, leaving us susceptible to groupthink?
The conventional wisdom now is that Ireland’s economic development has been the result of EU membership. This notion has become so ingrained that even to question it is dismissed by the mainstream as the work of a crank.
However, it seems to me that questioning the EU will become more and more commonplace in the years ahead, not least because our economy became more Anglo-American after we joined the EU than it was before we joined.
Furthermore, there is a significant strand of EU thinking that believes that the best response to any EU crisis is more and deeper federalism. Federalism is written in Brussels’ DNA and this implies more and more dilution of sovereignty. This is not in our short-term or long-term interest because our economy is in the Atlantic orbit rather than the European space.
This dichotomy explains why Ireland is regularly cited as either the fastest growing or deepest slumping European economy. Have you noticed that we are never in the middle?
The reason for this is that Ireland isn’t a European economy in the true sense of the word. Ireland is a global economy that happens to be in that part of the Atlantic Ocean that is closest to the European continent. That accident of geography doesn’t make us a continental economy in any material way. Consequently, it is meaningless to say we are the fastest growing economy in Europe because the economy isn’t European at all. It would be more accurate to compare us to a state in the USA because our capital base and trade is American.
Economically, we are Connecticut with lousy weather.
Geo-strategically, Ireland is like the jockey riding two horses: the EU political/diplomatic horse and the Atlantic economic/investment horse. When the horses are moving together, the jockey’s position is tenable. When they move apart, the jockey’s position becomes more awkward.
We now do more trade with America and Britain combined than with the EU. The Americans are by far our biggest investor and when Irish people lose their jobs, we still go to England looking for work. These are the economic facts.
But equally, much of the investment is here because we are in the EU’s internal market.
As a result, it makes sense to tread the fine line between the Atlantic and the Continent, avoiding any dramatic choice between the two. However, events may not allow us to do so. And events shatter groupthink. If you doubt this, just ask the ‘soft landing’ brigade in Merrion Street.
My fear is that rather than remaining open to the possibility that the world is changing, not just with Brexit, the Apple tax issue and Trump but with Le Pen and a myriad of other political and economic factors, Official Ireland is digging its heels in, embracing the conventional wisdom even more tightly than before.
For example, at the clear behest of his paymasters, this week the EU Commissioner Phil Hogan warned that Ireland should avoid “excessive reliance” on the UK. In an ideal world who would disagree? But the fact is that we are deeply intertwined with the UK, much more so than any other EU country. Brexit will be asymmetric. It will affect Ireland more than any other country.
But consider the language the commissioner used because it reveals the mindset.
What does an “excessive reliance” on the UK mean? When you got a job in London because you couldn’t get one in Ireland, was your reliance on the UK excessive? Is your cousin from Birmingham with the Brummie accent, and the Irish passport, being excessively reliant? When people in England buy Irish butter, meat or lamb, is that a commercial choice or excessive reliance? Should we be arguing that they buy less? When you support Manchester United or Liverpool, is that excessive? When we watch excellent programmes on the BBC, are we being excessively reliant? When the UK Treasury offered us a no-strings-attached loan in 2010, were they being excessive? When a few of the hundreds of thousands of English tourists to Ireland buy a pint in Connemara, is that pub excessively reliant on Britain?
Only a politician whose wages are paid by Brussels would say something as meaningless.
There is an echo chamber in Brussels that wills away the iron law of economics, which is that we all rely on each other. Because of history, geography and culture, we and the British are intertwined.
This European federalist talk is unrealistic. In truth, it’s worse than unrealistic, it is not in Ireland’s interest.
What is in Ireland’s interest is to remain as open as possible to all sides. This means that we need to object to further EU integration. We should not do what the British did. Rather than leave the EU, we should promise never to leave. They can’t kick us out. We should stay on our terms and should say we’ve had enough of this federalist carry-on. Like Denmark and Sweden, who both stayed out of the euro, we should say no more. No more tax harmonisation, in particular. Are Denmark or Sweden any less European for not being in the euro? No, they are just small countries that stand up for their own interests.
With Britain gone we will have to stand up for ourselves in a more robust fashion if needs be. My hunch is that the EU’s reaction to the British leaving will be a move for deeper integration.
We have to be flexible and try to navigate among all.
And, of course, if Le Pen wins in France, the EU project is all over anyway. She will pull France out of the euro. The euro can’t survive without France. If France goes, Italy could follow. Then it’s over and we will have to figure out a different set of relationships.
If our political class embeds us too closely with the Europhiles of Brussels, the people will not accept it. The population is much less pro-European than the political, media and bureaucratic elite.
If the conventional wisdom pulls us too far in one direction — the European one — it will swing back and the other end of the spectrum is Irexit —now who wants that?
Subscribe.
Agree.
Hi David, “The State was ………….quickly running out of people” My recently departed Uncle who would have been 92 this year remembered a time around then when the state made all the young men sign on in the Garda stations criminals or not! Haven’t moved too far from the Cuban “Sure big brother over yonder will keep sending cheques” mentality much really. I wonder will cunt Hogan apply the same logic to his obscene salary and ask himself the following question; “Maybe I shouldn’t be to excessively reliant on my fuck off salary since then he would able to do… Read more »
“The more I study the EU ‘setup’ the more I feel we are being subjected to fascism in the true sense of the word”
So true.
Can’t wait to hear Pat Flannery’s response to this one.
David was right about the naivety of the boom-time conventional belief in a soft landing but is he also right about the current belief in a Soft Brexit? I don’t think so. What “great march of events” like the global economic collapse might smash the current believe in a Soft Brexit? I believe this time it will not be economics but geopolitics, specifically the Russian bear. If Russia invaded Poland tomorrow who would the Poles call, Brussels or Washington? I think we all know the answer to that. But who would answer the phone in Washington from January 20th onwards?… Read more »
Some questions on your essay: • You say that TK Whitaker took us away from isolationism, and praise him for this, however in not wanting to integrate any further, are we being isolationist? • You decry federalism in Europe and extol the US, which is a federal system. Are there not advantages to the federal system, as it resulted in the USA being so powerful? • You say no to more tax harmonisation, yet one of the criticisms of the near collapse of the euro was that we weren’t harmonised enough. Can you separate out a more integrated financial system… Read more »
A country is like a group of people. It needs to walk its own path but be cordial to all at the same time. It needs to withstand the bully without and still have positive response, to others. It needs to be confident in its own actions and decisions knowing that the right decision will be one in every ten. It needs to know there is no problem changing a bad decisions for another and so continue until the right decision is found. For some reason I found myself thinking of this poem by Kipling. ‘if’ by rudyard kipling If… Read more »
@almost everybody above. Big change of opinion David. Hogan may be imbued with EU thinking, not surprising seeing where he is, and who pays him. However, there is zero chance of us leaving EU, we simply could not afford it, and FDI would dry up. So, me must participate, actively.
Big change in status quo thinking needed. The rellies in UK will still be there, more importantly, we have serious friends in the Scottish Parliament.
Stand up for ourselves ? What exactly is that ? Nobody in the Irish government has done that in years. And PR stunts from Squire Hockey (who sold out to please his admired alter ego Mitterand ) does not equate to standing up for ourselves.
Trump is prepared to give the UK a reasonable trade deal. Meanwhile the EU is talking of revenge. And the NL are trying to hold it all up, by constraining Britain in corporate tax. [ Because the NL is concerned about the competitive dynamic that will exist between London and Amsterdam]. The Dutch have identified their key interest, and are prepared to defend it. The Irish government seem to be sleeping, after a mighty hangover – with the exception of Shane Ross who is going after a former director of a Denis O’Brien conglomerate, for mediocre performance on the public… Read more »
@ Grzegorz PARTIAL FEEDBACK . Apropos of ; a] ?”Mr Martin McGuiness’s resignation” & b]? “Renewable Heat Incentive [ RHI ]” Scandal / “Cash for Ash” Scandal on x.1. the future of Sinn Fein in Irish State y.1.1 Some “world attention”-grabbing opportunity for Sinn Fein in Irish State to be : appreciated by world press interviewed by world press And, according as Sinn Fein represents themselves well or are represented well in Time Magazine & Newsweek Magazine etc, Sinn Fein gain status with Irish electorate ; Because, Irish electorate will be impressed with how Sinn Fein appear competent & dignified… Read more »
@ Grzegorz
Ref.
Grzegorz Kolodziej
January 15, 2017 at 8:33 pm
“… the 1st victim of Troubles – Francis McCloskey – had deep Polish roots ?
From the peasant family Kluska …”
But, ?”Wikipedia.org” & ?”Ancestry.com” state separately in the respective links below :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCluskey
http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=mccloskey
BUT … BUT … BUT ;
Very possible that this Francis McCloskey’s particular surname is descended from Polish surname or family name ;
“Kluska”
ANOTHER BUT … BUT … BUT ;
Let’s not get too taken up with this particular matter presently
VERY INTERESTING ANALOGY ; WORTH BOOKMARKING BY ALL
But let us not get deviated by details this year ;
Instead, let us get pro-active with solutions.
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At least, “be a f..king nuisance” to the establishment ;
“Hello Mr. Bank Manager, I wish for a ‘fractional reserve banking loan’ of fiat Euro …”
“Hi, I wish to know today’s rate for the Petro-Dollar.”
“Dear Secretary General of Department of …., How many of our staff here are Freemasons ?”
etc etc etc
Latest update – Trump is eager to do a trade deal with Britain. At an overall level this has upended the EU. And the EU will probably respond with loud words, and chaos as a result. This could produce a realignment of trade. A realignment of trade is what occurred to NZ in 1973. NZ dairy produce sold for less. It also occurred in Ireland, when Britain ended the Imperial system of preference under pressure from Roosevelt in the 1940s. The price of Ireland’s agricultural production in it’s main market dropped substantially. Ireland went from steady growth, to an income… Read more »
@ Grzegorz, DE-LINEATION OF UR MOST OF UR SPECIFICATIONS Given now lest I fail to follow through in time for u. I confess to being bored of North East of Ireland at this stage of my life. Even, all of Ireland also. If most of the people are determined to go rotten, why bother trying to redeem them ? . . The impact of a] ?”Mr Martin McGuiness’s resignation” & b]? “Renewable Heat Incentive [ RHI ]” Scandal / “Cash for Ash” Scandal on x.1.2 the future of Sinn Fein in North East of Ireland x.2. the future of “Northern… Read more »
I think the decline and decadence of western society is a direct result of the decline of the wooden ruler. And of course its associates: blotting paper, ink wells and dip-in-pens. The wooden ruler to the inky shining faced schoolboy going unwillingly to school makes a delightful twang when played off the desk. They make great ballistae to project inky missiles upon enemies and friends alike. And the gentle administrations of the Christian Brothers when we were caught taught us that life was not fair. Our wooden rulers had their faults but the plastic rulers which have replaced them break… Read more »
How little yee really know about De Valera 8-)
“Conventional Insight” about him & his rule are FALSE.
If only yee knew certain secret crucial info. about him.
It would tidy up a lot of Irish history, & European & World history too.
Just sayin.
But, what would be the point in revealing when this info. would not be respected ?
I know this milieu so well.
David argues that Ireland can refuse to leave and dig its heels in in Europe. I am reading my way through Booker and North’s The Great Deception about Britain and the EU, very slowly, but it is getting very interesting with the final months of Thatcher. The issue defines her last years and she found herself regularly ganged up on 11:1. Her difficulty seems to have been that her cabinet was very much in favour of integration (whereas I understand that most Tory voters probably opposed it). She tried to stall EU progress (a misnomer of course) but had to… Read more »
@ Grzegoz, @ Grzegorz Somewhat lazy effort in response to ur 2 questions below ; I dare not check how these 2 questions relate to the delineated response ; As said this is a somewhat lazy effort at answering. “… the significance of shenanigans in Stormont on the future of Sinn Féin i.e. Will that enhance their coalition-digestiveness for q.1. FF q.2. FG ? q.3. the political future of NEI ?” REDACTED BY TRUTHIST q.1 FINE GAEL a.1.1 Natural choice for most Republicans who sided with Michael Collins Although, arguably Michael Collins would not be a fan ever of Fine… Read more »
“KEY POINT: The CIA has positioned itself to be a higher authority than Congress, the President, or We the People and can act in secrecy in all of its affairs.” “”The president can also wage all types of war secretly within U.S. borders because Obama changed the National Defense Authorization Act, with congressional approval, to give him those powers. Other extraordinary presidential powers have been consolidated through numerous executive orders in the last eight years.” ” Clapper currently controls an annual budget of around $75 billion and was a former British private spy but could not figure out that the… Read more »
TRUMP IMMEDIATELY UPON TAKING UP OFFICE MUST ORDER EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT INVESTIGATION OF 9-11, REVEAL ALL THE TRUTH TO THE PUBLIC, & THEN VIGOROUSLY BRING TO JUSTICE THE REAL PERPETRATORS. THAT COURSE OF ACTION WILL STOP SUPPORT BY USA PUBLIC FOR USA AS SLAUGHTERER-BY-PROXY IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES. BUT, CREATING A FOG FOR NECESSARY PRESSING OF TRUMP TO DO THIS ARE GATE-KEEPERS SUCH AS NOAM CHOMSKY. Noam Chomsky allows the worldwide “Frankfurt School” intelligentsia to parade Chomsky as the leading intellectual of the latter 1/2 of the 20th century. . Noam Chomsky ridicules the necessity of investigating for the truth about… Read more »
This popped up on my Quora feed this evening:
https://www.quora.com/How-quickly-could-Russia-invade-defeat-and-annex-Poland
Sneaky mind leaks from Meryl Streep’s mouth during her attack on Trump at Golden Globes.
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No need to look at the video in its entirety.
Thankfully, because to do so would be to endure very annoying sound effects & video effects.
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But, do note Streep’s tongue action ;
Very strange
Very indicative.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI6CwSw-Rn4
Meanwhile, just to north of Trumpland ;
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https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/justin-trudeau-says-gay-marriage-and-abortion-reflect-his-core-principles-i
http://www.plata.com.mx/Mplata/articulos/articlesFilt.asp?fiidarticulo=304
US protectionism means that the US forfeits its leadership in the world and forfeits its right to issue the world’s money.
“Got along without you, before I met you – gonna get along without you now.”
@ Grzegorz Ref. The impact of a] ?”Mr Martin McGuiness’s resignation” & b]? “Renewable Heat Incentive [ RHI ]” Scandal / “Cash for Ash” Scandal on x.2. the future of “Northern Ireland” sic – “North East of Ireland” [ N.E.I. ] — as a political entity y.2.1 On basis of these 2 events in themselves ; Nil effect. Because, they are minuscule potatoes. y.2.2 On basis of certain choices arising from options available to “Sinn Fein”, & “Unionist-Loyalist” political parties involved ; y.2.2.1 re-elected assembly but with Sinn Fein as “Join” / “Co-” etc 1st Ministership. N.E.I. then can be… Read more »
Hi David , I enjoyed the article and it was lucid .I agree in principal with your thoughts . To mark my footprint I believe it needed more precision from you . Some words repeatedly float commonly together as the article slowly arrives to conclusions and some of these words are not ‘relevantly pure’ to find a deeper meaning on the power of now in the story that really matters. ‘Our economy is in an Atlantic orbit’ and comparing why Ireland is not part of the European economy should only mean collectively ‘the isles’ . There is no such thing… Read more »
Last night I had a quick look to see what Crotty had to say about Whitaker. He said that, because the way the Irish banks were set up, Whitaker had found it very difficult on at least one occasion to borrow ‘a few million’ and so had shared in the experience of thousands of ordinary people when dealing with their bank manager. His was the beginning of the State’s fourth major economic policy since independence, all of which had failed or (in his case) bound to fail in the end: 1 Conservative financial rectitude 2 Protectionism (30s and 40s) 3… Read more »
The first half of David’s article is about conventional wisdom (and its close cousin received opinion) but it doesn’t grasp the extent of received opinion. I am currently wading through the Spanish translation of Roddy Doyle’s A Star Called Henry, which seems to be set at the time of the Easter Rising (at least, that’s where I have got to). (It is always a mistake to buy a book in a hurry.) I read through the reviews on Amazon and, as expected, they were nearly all enthusiastic. One reviewer claimed that Doyle leads out a herd of sacred cows to… Read more »
@ Grzegorz, Partial update ; With some of previous material edited . . The impact of a] ”Mr Martin McGuiness’s resignation” & b] “Renewable Heat Incentive [ RHI ]” Scandal / “Cash for Ash” Scandal on x.2. the future of “Northern Ireland” sic – “North East of Ireland” — as a political entity x.2.1 status y.2.1 If Sinn Fein secures “Joint” / “Co-” etc 1st Ministership.; ==> N.E.I. then can be more autonomous because Sinn Fein then genuinely more keen to work with Unionist-Loyalist political parties. Then,status of NEI can become more respected internationally : politically economically culturally OR y.2.2… Read more »
The reality of our situation is that we are pawns.
The great powers are at war again.
gB will do it’s usual stunt of divide and conquer using us as bait and let’s be clear about this we were and are and always will be cannon fodder unless we change our ways.
Therein lies the problem -can we change.
Are we prepared to abandon the begging bowl and stand up for ourselves.
Who are we anyway, what do WE stand for.
I was looking for some moving (but not Marxist) quote from the history of Irish nationalism for my article on Sinn Fein/IRA which would strike a cord with the Polish conservative reader (which is difficult considering their KGB connections) and so far, I haven’t found in Arthur Griffith’s writings anything as powerful as this quote from Michael Collins during the Treaty negotiations with Britain (so timeous):
“Give us the future.. we’ve had enough of your past.. give us back our country to live in — to grow in.. to love.
Is there a conflict of interest between the trade views of eurocrats from brussels and the CEO’s of top german brands ?
Surely the eurocrats are feeling the pressure as brexit has forced top brand CEO’s to measure the real value of brussels. Do the top CEO’s really trust the ability of dummy politicians to limit and restrict their markets?
Unmeasured immigration was the main driver of brexit.
No methods but lots of costs.
In Ms. May’s speech today she voiced her determination to avoid a custom and immigration border between the ROI and NI. That can only be achieved by pushing back the effective borders of the UK to include all of the island of Ireland. Anybody or anything destined for any part of Ireland will have to be marked as destined for the UK.
It is either a full customs and immigration border between NI and the ROI or effective integration into the UK. I hope that becomes clear during the upcoming NI general election.
Profound evil ;
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New York’s main electorate must be pleased at what USA “the proxy” does for The Dreadful Few ;
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH9xSHcFreY
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If more convenient for yee, click on the same video found 1/4 the way down in the following link ;
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH9xSHcFreY
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This is what aspiring Taoisaoigh of Irish State Me-hole Martin, Hugh Coveney’s boy “Simon”, Varadaker, & Gerry Adams are complicit of in their cozying up with NATO [ USA & UK & France mainly ] & EU & of course USA.
Hillary Clinton pitching the gifting of Taiwan to China in return for China cancelling USA’s debt that China owns.
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https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/23730#efmAEGAEhAHiAIYANlAOG
SORE-ASS versus HUNGARY HEADLINE ; George Soros has been interfering in Hungary’s politics for years. Now, they’re fed up. January 16, 2017 LifeSiteNews EXCERPT ; The ruling Hungarian Civic Alliance party (Fidesz) has had enough of George Soros’ interference in its politics. Government minister Janos Lazar announced last week that they intend to begin auditing all foreign organizations. Not surprisingly, among them will be George Soros’ network of charities and foundations. Soros, a Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire financier and political activist, is known for his support of the Democratic Party, President Obama and the Clintons. “Every Hungarian has a right to… Read more »
Jimmy McGee — the great sports commentator from Ireland — often said that the real tough man is not he who dishes out assaults but rather he who endures them with dignity.
That ancient community occupied by that special little Rothschild-sponsored democracy in the Middle East, & who are proving to be obstacle to the Neo-Zio-Christians for their “Rapture” episode to occur, sure are a true tough people.
Here is more of same-old-same-old ;
http://imemc.org/article/israeli-soldiers-kill-a-palestinian-teen-in-bethlehem/
Already nearly 1/2 a Trillion USA Dollars spent on this USA multi-role fighter jet ;
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Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4125830/F-35-crisis-Pentagon-276-different-faults.html
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Just 1 of the ways that USA imposes use of USA Petro-Dollar / USA Commodity-Dollar / USA Reserve-Currency Dollar upon the rest of the world
@ Grzegorz x.6. Prognosis x.6.1 Who will gain ? AND What will they gain ? x.6.1.1 Who ; Sinn Fein What ; Ref. Truthist January 16, 2017 at 10:42 am@ Grzegorz PARTIAL FEEDBACK x.1. [ above ] the future of Sinn Fein in Irish State … x.6.1.2 Ref. x.1.2 [ above ] the future of Sinn Fein in North East of Ireland ACTUALLY, I A BIT MUDDLED NOW ; I HAVE BEEN USING “x” & “y” as coding system for Question & Answer, respectively, & LATER “q” & “a” INSTEAD. I THINK THAT IF I HAVE NOT ANSWERED x.1.2 SPECIFICALLY,… Read more »
Theresa May has outlined where she stands on Brexit. Her position is very steely, and indicates that she understands the EU’s ability to create disaster from just about any situation. The response from the Irish government was comical. It indicates a nEU garrison mentality with a ‘guilt-trip’ at the end. In the context of snapchat, the guilt-trip is looking ridiculous. In fact the Irish state is still clueless. The Irish state is also clueless to our declining competitiveness. Residential development in Dublin is still snarled up in complexity, which benefits the architects and local authority planners – but which does… Read more »
Some of the content here is on point – for example I agree that the population on average is less pro-European than, say, our main political parties. But more of the content seems quite weak to me. For example, dismissing Phil Hogan’s comments because his “wages are paid by Brussels” is a cheap move. The Ad Hominem is a famously bad argument. It’s as cheap as it would be for me to say that David McWilliams articles are meaningless because they get better readership if he says unconventional things, or because he gets invited to speak at more conferences if… Read more »
A proper country should be able to close itself off from input from rest of world , & thus : become a successfully self sufficient become advanced in : the arts the sciences the hybrids the sports have all its citiens : healthy happy civilised wise educated skilled at the crafts of good heart enjoying high standard of living able to defend the nation from : internal threats external threats have as back-up : products & services that will fetch high prices from a world market enthusiastic for them merchant navy inter alia Japan is example of country that accomplished… Read more »
The Media
Was reading an article about Trump.
The usual scaremongering.
The damage/changes he makes will be irreversible.
Meanwhile the Senate has already started to repeal Obamacare.
Another no doubt irreversible piece of presidential damage/change.
Believe nothing of what you read and only half of what you see.
That’s right only “HALF” what you see.
Further to the discussion as to Ireland’s next move, it is evident that nothing is going to change soon or soon enough. The same may be said for most countries as they are swallowed by debt. That leaves us all looking out for ourselves. Here is a germaine offering in that regard, posted today in http://www.lemetropolecafe.com MIDAS Appendix Rhody… An open letter to investors Hello all: I recently responded to some friends about the present state of the monetary system. It occurred to me that my response might be helpful to others, so I am sending this as an open… Read more »
This Democrat Party female politician is a-cute-ly different to the lot that we suffer here.
Congresswoman Gabbard makes unannounced trip to Syria
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/18/congresswoman-gabbard-makes-unannounced-trip-to-sy/
For Grzegorz to “read in a few days time”, & respond to because Dublin Bus salaries + benefits + conditions are very similar* to the rest of CIE’s bus category ;
*Recent increase in salary + benefits to Dublin Bus staff excepted.
Much of Grzegorz’s core arguments are valid for all of CIE’s bus category.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bus-ireann-offers-staff-pay-rise-if-they-accept-cuts-to-payments-35378515.html
Still, I begin to think Trump wears the white hat in the titanic struggle for the white House.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUxF7gvYeE
Free!! Would you like a Snickers or a gold coin? In a California town, nobody took the gold coin. Shows the value system in play.