The Recession Diaries : The First Two Weeks

national | miscellaneous | other press Saturday July 19, 2008 20:26 by Recession Diaries

Bringing Out The Madness

What a time we live in - recession time! Economic downturn, the onslaught of the Right, the unsettling quiescence of the Left, the besieging of the trade union movement; it's all coming at us so fast it's difficult to know which uttered untruth to dissect, which unstated truth to promulgate. So here's a diary - a recession diary - to keep up with the rapid-fire events and commentary - as rapid as the downturn itself.

The first two weeks of diary entries tackle the following:

Fine Gael's manipulation of Government spending figures • The trepidations of the haute bourgeoisie • There's more to retraining workers than retraining workers • A simple proposal to put construction workers back on site and actually house people • The brain-dead Small Firms Association gets a brainstorm • Freezing public sector pay worth only pennies a day • Leo Varadkar in madness mode • Goldilocks and overseas aid • Emigrating with a copy of the Goodbody Report • ICTU plays hardball on wages • IBEC's flexibility is everyone else's exploitation • Professor Mary Harney reads her lecture notes upside down • The OECD says Irish public sector workers are 'cool' • Finally, an economist who talks common sense (and on RTE, too!) • The Romaniasation of the Irish economy • We're poor because we don't build so many houses anymore?