The Cedar Lounge Revolution

“Political landscape changed utterly” – So says the Irish Times… but not quite enough for them… February 13, 2009

I have to be honest. I laughed out loud when reading the editorial this morning in the Irish Times. For there squirreled away between the talk about:

THE POLITICAL landscape [being] transformed in recent months as the recession deepens and the Government lurches from crisis to crisis.

And…

Falling living standards, rising job losses and perceived ministerial incompetence has driven this searing reassessment of Brian Cowen and his Government.

And also…

A dramatic surge in popular support for the Labour Party and its leader Eamon Gilmore, who has the highest rating of any political leader…

… was the following gem…

Growing unhappiness with the Government might have been expected. Income levies from the budget took effect in January and a public service pension charge was announced last week. But harsh measures can sometimes generate approval, if those administering the unpalatable medicine convince the public they know what they are doing and their actions will have a curative effect.

Oh yes. The ‘approval’ that the Irish Times so desperately craves for ‘harsh measures’ in its economic masochism. Well… somewhat masochistic, since one presumes that those writing such articles won’t be suffering too much.

There seems to be a complete incomprehension on the part of the editorial writer that people might actually quite like the current society we live in which – despite being extremely flawed and limited – has at least knocked some of the ‘harsher’ edges off life here and that they believe that a strong public sector is by no means the unqualified ill that our economic commentators and supine media suggest it is. Or that the crisis is not one of a voracious and untrammelled public sector wage bill but is in fact one of a political elite with near to no financial expertise in tandem with a media with next to no understanding of finance being led by the nose by the greed and sloth of financial sector that demands as of a right support from hard-pressed taxpayers and then refuses to provide even the most limited amelioration in return.

And perhaps the truth is also that when faced with the reality of the ‘unpalatable medicine’ a good 70% or so of the populace (excluding the Green Party and Fianna Fáil – both of whose votes may reflect party loyalty as much as any other factor) balked and said…no more.

How indeed to read the Irish Times glee at:

Mr Gilmore’s [success] in attracting the attention and approval of a broader constituency, particularly older and better-off voters. His party now enjoys more support in Dublin than Fianna Fáil and is challenging that party strongly in Munster.

All those right thinking ‘better-off voters’ who should, from the viewpoint of the editorial, be marching on the Dáil demanding that the government instate a minarchy. No wonder the Irish Times is confused and seeks solace in weasel words about ‘convincing’ and ‘knowing what they’re doing’ and not least ‘a curative effect’.

But for the Irish Times the message is not that the Government and its policies are pointed in entirely the wrong direction but that ‘The Government must demonstrate that it has a grip if it is to survive’. The implication being that ‘unpalatable medicine’ is the way to go. I think that they’re going to be sadly disabused of the notion that the electorate will ‘approve’.

What comes across loud and clear in our society as presently constituted is that our political, economic and media elite don’t actually subscribe to a ‘curative effect’ as you and I (I hope) know it where we have even a weak social democratic social compact which – in the longer term – will move towards a more progressive stance. They want those elements stripped out in the name of financial realism and providing succour to the ravenous and infinitely demanding financial sector.

And now, when it is clear that that sector has not merely concealed information, but used aspects of the governments own guarantee to them – effectively underwritten by this state itself as collateral – to further increase their profits in actions which are in economic terms treasonous, but beyond that societally entirely without any sense of moral compass, the Irish Times continues to bleat about how we the population who have no hand or part in this can’t take ‘unpalatable medicine’.

Indeed in an accompanying editorial the IT argues that:

In the absence of a comprehensive and credible plan to deal with their bad loans, Irish banks will continue to be treated with the utmost caution by their peers. There should be no further delay in addressing this issue even though the remedial action required is likely to involve further risks for the taxpayer.

And in this note how the IT is literally unable to comprehend that the problem does not lie centrally with the Government, although it too must take full share of the blame, but with Irish banks who even it must admit:

It is a matter of conjecture as to whether that decline was driven by concerns about the nature of the recapitalisation proposal itself or by a belief abroad – fostered by the latest revelations – that there is something so fundamentally amiss with Ireland’s banking culture that no amount of money can fix the problem.

But note that…

By long-fingering the issue of so-called toxic assets, the Government has stayed true to form; doing the least possible at the last minute.

This is bizarre. The IT in recent years has been only one amongst a raft of right-wing economic cheerleaders who have decried the notion of government regulation. And now? And now it turns and berates a government that spinning uncontrollably in the wind seeks to emulate all that it has been told but never quite understood?

And what of this?

However, on the downside, it has risked exacerbating the damage being done to the economy by delaying the steps necessary to facilitate the return of a properly functioning banking system.

Which presupposes that we ever had what it glibly terms a ‘properly functioning banking system’.

I had an interesting chat yesterday with Irish Eagle, who while coming from a different place politically and economically to this blog has arrived at some fairly similar conclusions, not least of which is that our financial, political and media ‘stakeholders’ have utterly sold this state short to the point that our future is potentially catastrophic.

And while the government may be discomfited by Denis Casey remaining as Chief Executive of Irish Life and Permanent after the Board refused to accept his resignation that is as nothing compared to the reaction of the market which has seen IL&Ps shares crash in value. Ooops… no he’s not the Chief Exec… that must have been a lovely meeting between Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan and chairperson of Irish Life & Permanent Gillian Bowler (who had overseen the decision to allow Casey to remain – truly some people do not get it, do not get it at all) today.

Meanwhile, impossible to resist this puff piece about the bould Bowler…

Relishing all of the different challenges, she says the one closest to her heart is Irish Life & Permanent, which Bowler regards as being similar to Budget Travel.

In what way?

“The people there are genuinely interested in bringing out innovative, new products and talk of their customers as people.” It’s part of her own philosophy – it is much easier to sell to people who are happy.

Innovative… customers as people… billions in inter-company loans…

Bowler’s other view about success is that to be successful you need to be a bit of a chameleon and make sure you understand how your customers do their business. “Even now, with Irish Life & Permanent, you have to put a different hat on and think how the customer thinks. Think yourself into someone else’s mindset.”

Hmmmm…

I’m told there’s more to come on the banking issue. Much much more. And of the sort that might well put significant stresses on the political system.