IRELAND: WELCOME TO OUR FUTURE!
I’ve previously quoted the indomitable Irish economist/journalist David McWilliams. I think his latest piece is more than worthy of a run here because, if we have the wit to see it, Ireland is the future of the world in miniature. It’s not too late to learn lessons from the mistakes being employed by the Irish. Not the least of these is NAMA. (Why dig the hole deeper when you’re trying to get out?)
Those of us who saw this crash coming from a long way off can identify with David’s plaint that economic mules sometimes claim to have been keeping ‘positive’ in order to keep our spirits up. You’d have to agree with him that this is nonsense. They are duds, pure and simple, yet we foolishly allow them to remain in control, so there’s no further shocks or lack of confidence in the system, presumably. But that’s impossible in the circumstances, so welcome to the second, third and fourth legs of the global crisis, folks!
Enough! It’s time to employ the heterodox economics of the Georgist School. If we abolish taxes and capture economic rent, we can kick start economies into recovery overnight.