In the run-up to the budget all the talk is of how many jobs will be destroyed as a result of Government measures.  Well, not really.  But it should be. …

Come with me, my payee / To the sea . . . the sea of debt / I want to tell you / How much I owe you  Do you…

There is a common assumption that deprivation is a condition associated with unemployment.  But if you get a job, you can work your way out of poverty and deprivation.  That…

Are you getting tired of unsubstantiated claims that social protection payments are a disincentive to taking up a job?  Me, too.  These assertions pass for informed commentary on the unemployment…

In a follow-up to it pre-budget submission, UNITE has produced a smaller document – Wages, Labour Rights and Economic Recovery – developing proposals on wages and labour rights.  Though these…

So we’re out of recession.  But, as the Minister for Finance warned, we shouldn’t start throwing our hats in the air.  We’re still in a domestic demand recession with investment…

In the run-up to the budget all manner of proposals are being put forward –tax measures, spending cuts.  We debate what sacrifice this or that groups can make to bring…

Today the new insolvency service goes live.  Today is the beginning of a new kind of poverty – insolvency poverty. Our rulers, giving deep consideration to the problems posed by…

UNITE has launched its pre-budget submission entitled, ‘Beyond Austerity’.  It puts forward a number of proposals that seek to expand economic activity – growth, investment, employment and consumer spending which…

Well, well, well.  You know that policy of reducing the number of public sector employees?   Nurses, Gardai, civil servants, local authority workers?   The Government trumpets the success of this downsizing: …

Kevin O’Rourke links to an interesting paper by Jeff Frankel which discusses different ways recessions are measured.  The standard European measurement says that when an economy falls two quarters in…

The Government will soon be issuing a consultation paper on the forthcoming Broadcasting Charge to be levied on all households.  This is intended to replace the television license fee and…

The following power-points were presented at UNITE's seminar 'Beyond Austerity' held on July 11th. Tom Healy, Director, Nevin Economic Research Institute:  Budget 2014:  The context  Download Tom Healy Camillie Loftus,…

I usually don’t do too much work on property prices. However, an article in the Sunday Business Post regarding the sale of high-end residential properties got me interested.  If there…

Following a series of austerity Budgets which have shrunk the economy, reduced social protection benefits and cut workers’ take home pay, the time has come to look Beyond Austerity –…

A number of Government Ministers – Richard Bruton in particular – have claimed that the economy is creating 2,000 private sector jobs per month.  This is intended to show their…

First, the good news:  there is no need for spending cuts in Budget 2014.  This should come as a relief to people on social protection, users of public services, people…

A good friend of mine took one look at the CSO’s National Quarterly Accounts released today and described it in two words:  ‘f****** awful’.  As this is a family-friendly blog…

It is reported that the Minister Richard Bruton will propose that tax cuts are needed to keep the economy on course.  Well, at least this has the virtue of consistency…

Ministers are fond of telling us that we are 80 percent through the dark austerity forest.  Soon, maybe within a couple of years, we will enter into the light where…