The biggest criticism levelled at those who argue for an expansionary investment programme to restore economic growth and repair public finances is that we have no money. Yes, it would…

It’s pre-budget submission time and IBEC has come out with a barn-stormer. They have all the usual demands we’d expect: more fiscal contraction, no increase in marginal tax rates, maintain…

William Slattery of the financial services company State Street, and a member of the McCarthy Committee, has offered some advice to the nation in its time of need. With unemployment…

Today on News at One the Minister for Finance mentioned ‘stabilisation’ and ‘stabilise’ a number of times to explain away the 2nd quarter National Accounts report which showed the GDP…

As we head into ‘budget season’ we’ll get a lot of nonsense. One of the biggest is that we must extend the ‘tax system’ to those who don’t pay any…

One can only chuckle. Last year the pronouncements of rating agencies were treated as though they were written on Mount Sinai. Downgrades, or the threat of such, were interpreted by…

There have been some outrageous and hilarious things said in this economic debate. I don’t know how economic historians will come to rank them. But surely at the top must…

Pretty grim. Back in March and April we got a lot of commentary – about how the unemployment was stabilising, how we’re starting to turn the corner, how the dismal…

Fair dues to the Government. They take old news, an old set of policy projections, repackage it with a shiny new bow, and launch a fresh programme – which is…

Brian Keegan from the Chartered Accountants Ireland says that finding €500 million in tax revenue for Budget 2011 will be ‘very difficult to find’. There are no easy choices, he…

I have to admire those who claim we must bring the low-paid into the tax net. I admire their chutzpah, their audacious willingness to flaunt in public their remarkable ignorance…

The CSO has just published the first quarter National Accounts.  If you want to avoid the spin go straight to Michael Burke's cogent analysis on Progressive-Economy.  Here I just want…

Adrian Weckler is doing what journalists should be doing – investigating stories rather than report press releases. We have, of late, been subjected to an avalanche of job-creation announcements. Take…

Davy Stockbrokers nailed it: we’re not wealthy now, we never were. Though we had years of high income, private investment in the productive economy was ‘pitiful’, opting instead for property…

Monday night’s Frontline discussion was an object lesson in how to miss the point – a really big point in a really big way. In discussing spending cuts we were…

We are not Spain, we are not Italy, we are not Portugal. Repeat. We are not Spain, we are not Italy, we are not Portugal. In one sense, that’s correct.…

It would really help if some analysts took the time to read the reports they comment on. Take the EU Commission’s recent Spring Forecast – there was a titter of…

If, as Keynes said, ‘If you look after unemployment, the budget will look after itself’ then no wonder the economy remains mired in an economic and fiscal crisis. Fianna Fail…

An economy relying on consumer spending to drive a recovery is an economy that will be eventually be disappointed. Not that consumption cannot play a vital role. Indeed, businesses dependent…

There’s a problem with the way reports are covered in our media. Take the recent ESRI Spring Quarterly Commentary, for example. The demands on journalists to cover a statistically-dense 85…