Irish Tiger turned kitty under the firm hand of neo-liberalism
Ireland once heralded as an ‘economic tiger’, like the Asian tiger economies of Korea and Japan, but now has become insolvent. The key difference is that Korea and Japan did not bend to international pressure and open their economies to ‘free trade’ and other disastrous neo-liberal prescriptions, they protected their domestic economies with tariffs and limited the mobility of capitol so it benefited domestic industry first and investors second. Ireland took the other path throwing off domestic protections and embracing the investor market and ‘free trade’ (see Chile and Haiti) and their economy, once plundered, has been tossed aside to die at the wayside. Well, not die per say, but now requiring a huge bailout to save what is left of the Irish economy for those who depend on it the most, the people of Ireland.
“Ireland is running a deficit of €19 billion ($26.4 billion Cdn), which Lenihan said could not be financed at current market rates. He said the country needs help to pay its bills and provide a contingency fund to support banks that are hemorrhaging cash.”
This is yet another shining example of the socialism for the rich in action, as we see the EU and IMF rushing in with public dollars to prop up yet anther doomed neo-liberal experiment gone horribly wrong (or right depending on how you look at it). Austerity and public service roll backs are about to be unleashed on the people of Ireland, the investors, having made their money are long gone, already looking for the next country to rape.
Update with a hat-tip to Sabina Becker from News for the Restless for the link to the Youtube video.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
4 comments
November 24, 2010 at 9:18 am
World Spinner
When Irish Tigers Fail – The EU and IMF step in. « Dead Wild Roses…
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
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November 24, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Alan Scott
The Arbourist,
” Ireland took the other path throwing off domestic protections and embracing the investor market and ‘free trade’ (see Chile and Haiti) and their economy, once plundered, has been tossed aside to die at the wayside. ”
I am fast losing what ever respect I had for your intellect. That is an amazingly inaccurate analysis for the Irish economic collapse. Ireland had a housing bubble similar to the US. With the same banking misconduct, aided and abetted by government.
The Irish are even more susceptible than Americans to housing bubbles because of their history of being thrown off of their land. Every Irishman thinks of himself as a peasant and wants a plot of land and a cow to be secure. When they had money at the beginning of the boom it was easy to get caught up in the real estate speculation. That is the root of the collapse.
The only things the Irish lacked was Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Barney Frank, and Chris Dodd.
Also what Haiti and Chile have to do with Ireland is beyond me. Haiti has been a basket case for hundreds of years. Chile until very recently was ruined by Marxists and Socialists.
I am not up on S. Korea except that Obama threw away a chance for a free trade treaty that George Bush already had negotiated. Japan has been in a deep recession for 20 years because they have over protected their banking sector.
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November 25, 2010 at 11:40 am
Vern R. Kaine
Arb,
Ireland was basically set up to be raped and pillaged following much of the same thinking that let America into its own mess. In particular:
“1. Imprudent, indeed reckless, banking practices that operated to fund greed instead of evaluating risk and managing growth.
2. Flawed growth management practices that made a mockery of sound and sustainable urban planning principles (the Mahon Tribunal will have more to say on this).
3. Failure to reform a welfare system that made it more attractive to be on the dole than to go to work.
4. Failure to reform an educational system that turns a blind eye to school dropouts and special needs students, thus increasing social welfare costs to the State.
5. Failure to reform a tax system that places a disproportionate burden on transactions taxes (i.e., stamp duty, VAT and VRT) and fails to apply a fair and balanced scheme to income and property taxes. ”
I borrow these from a blogger named John Shanahan and a post he made here: http://irelandafternama.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/it%E2%80%99s-time-to-examine-the-irish-economic-model-not-simply-the-economy/
However, regarding the anti-business slant, I continue to find the focus of the arguments on both sides of the Atlantic interesting. If my house gets robbed, yes I certainly can and will blame the robbers. However, the robbers deserve far less of their share of the blame if I did things like ignore crime stats before I moved into the neighborhood, deliberately “cheaped out” on robbery prevention or security measures, or worse, if I actually was the one to allow these robbers into my house to rob me. We’ve voted these people in, and turned a blind eye to what they were doing. This is what has happened both in America and in Ireland.
Again, I echo the blogger’s view ([emphasis mine):
“All of these items, plus a government that is locked around our necks for five years like a dead albatross, are the causes of our own self-inflicted pain. We are the beneficiaries of economic foolishness and political madness [VRK: that we ourselves elected], coupled with a constitution truly in need of reform — all ‘Made in Ireland.’ Anybody ready for change…?”
It’s interesting how liberals AND predatory corporations/lenders/investors seem to use the same excuse to avoid accepting (or even acknowledging) any responsibility for their actions: “Don’t blame me, blame the environment.”
We still have two more bubbles to burst: the Federal debt, and the dollar, yet we’re celebrating stock market growth that is not representative of individual prosperity. We’re once again electing crooks and idiots into office, and we’ll continue to support the companies that take advantage of our ignorance. We never learn.
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November 27, 2010 at 11:35 am
The Arbourist
I am fast losing what ever respect I had for your intellect. That is an amazingly inaccurate analysis for the Irish economic collapse.
Well I do cherish the notion that you hold respect for my intellect, it is not a necessary requirement for my well being, or the validity of my argumentation.
Ireland had a housing bubble similar to the US. With the same banking misconduct, aided and abetted by government.
So then you would support more regulations then on private capital and the banking system, I’m glad we can agree on that. I’m not really sure how you square that with your free-market, anti-regulation stance, but I’m okay with that.
Every Irishman thinks of himself as a peasant and wants a plot of land and a cow to be secure.
I’m glad you have talked with every Irish person because I’d hate to think that you were just making stuff up to support your argumentation.
Haiti has been a basket case for hundreds of years.
Absolutely, we broke the nation and continue to be a large part of its problems.
Chile until very recently was ruined by Marxists and Socialists.
Chile’s economy until fairly recently was run under direction of the IMF and World bank that imposed neo-liberal reforms of the Chicago School variety that did in fact ruin the economy. Describing Milton Freedman as a “Marxist and a Socialist” does seem to be a little bit of a stretch.
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