Ireland's Economic Crash - Cork Book Launch.

cork | anti-capitalism | event notice Saturday June 06, 2009 19:04 by Joe Moore - Socialist Workers Party, Cork. mapuche at eircom dot net 087-2994796

Ireland's Economic Crash is a new book by Kieran Allen. It recounts how a miracle economy turned into an economic disaster zone. While ordinary people suffer, the government bails out banks and imposes wage cuts, levies and reductions in basic public services. The result is a downward spiral of economic gloom and doom.
The Cork launch will take place on Wednesday 24th June, at 8.00pm in the Victoria Hotel, Patrick St.
The launch will consist of a special slide show to illustrate some of the main arguments of the book and the type of solutions that can help working people. Afterwards there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion with the author.

In this damning critique, Kieran Allen advocates a withdrawal of state support to the private banks and the creation of a "good" public bank. He calls for a scheme of public works to give jobs to the unemployed and to stimulate the moribund economy. He argues that those who made vast fortunes during the boom years should carry the cost of cleaning up the mess they largely created.

Ireland's Economic Crash also examines the reckless growth of a global "casino economy" where valuable resources were squandered by hedge funds and other financial speculators. He suggests that our current "for profit" system is facing a deep, long-term crisis.

Written in a clear and accessible style, the book backs up its claim with carefully marshalled evidence and argument. Along the way, Allen punctures five myths about the Irish crash-including the idea that wage cuts will help get us out of a recession-and proposes specific solutions to get us out of the crisis.

Dr. Kieran Allen is a senior lecturer at the School of Sociology in University College Dublin. He has published widely and his previous books include The Celtic Tiger; The Myth of Social Partnership (2000) and The Corporate Takeover of Ireland (2007)