Notes on the Front

Commentary on Irish Political Economy by Michael Taft, researcher for SIPTU

Month: December 2014

  • A Mini-Tax-Cutting Budget? Abolish the USC? Can It Get Any Worse?

    Christmas comes early for employers, high-income groups and right-wing ideologues.  The Sunday Times (behind a paywall) reports on demands from Government backbenchers to introduce a mini-budget in an attempt to…

  • Don’t Mind What’s Going On – Feel The Spin

    You’d think there would be concern among commentators about the latest GDP numbers produced by the CSO.  After all, a quarterly growth of 0.1 percent is not that far from…

  • Tweedledum Tax Cuts vs. Tweedledee Tax Cuts

    Apparently the Government, if not having an outright row, is at least engaging in a ‘strong debate and discussion’.  What’s it about? The introduction of a Living Wage and associated…

  • The Rhatigan-isation of the Irish Economy

    Fourteen Unite members are currently on strike at a site in Kishogue, Lucan, County Dublin where a new school is to be built.  The outcome of this industrial struggle between…

  • Now Let Us Plot the Great Social Expansion

    Are we getting into election mode?  We have Government Ministers promising every tax cut possible while warning of the pestilence that will descend upon us if anyone else gets elected…

  • Deprivation Nation

    Ireland is a deprivation nation.  All manner of numbers and stats regarding growth and employment numbers are thrown around which feeds into the illusion of the ‘Celtic Phoenix’.  But there…

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Commentary on Irish Political Economy by Michael Taft, researcher for SIPTU