Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week April 11, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in media.trackback
It seems the Sunday Independent has found a new source to blame for the problems in the southern economy. It isn’t the trade unions, but it is the public sector, or a branch thereof. Now, it seems that it was preciselybecause the public sector wasn’t effective enough in restraining the private sector’s baser instincts. I wish these people would make their minds up. After all, wasn’t the reason for the previous successes the lack of public regulation, and wasn’t trusting our entrepreneurs the way out?
In third place, Jody Corcoran, in a piece saying we are all to blame, but especially the public sector, lays most of the blame at the door of the Department of Finance.
They who sucked on the hind tit of this benchmarking lark year after year, it financed by the proceeds of a property boom, unsustainable, year after year; a madness fuelled by the banking and political elite, year after year; all overseen by the Department of Finance, which failed in its central role, the economic and financial management of the State and the maintaining of the stability of the financial system.
In second place, Eoghan Harris, who has also decided the state’s economic crisis can be blamed on the failure of regulation, and thus on the public sector.
Against that background, it is hard to get a hearing for a more complex alternative analysis; that European low interest rates were the most influential force inflating the Celtic Tiger property bubble, that bad bankers and greedy developers behaved as badly as they always do, that politicians rode the boom at the behest of the people, but that the real delinquents were the three public-sector bodies charged with directly monitoring bankers and speculators — the Department of Finance, the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator.
And in first place, Colm O’Rourke, who seems to feel telling people to emigrate is a reasonable response.
The weaning off the State will be tortuous. Our parents made huge sacrifices for their children; now people seem to feel that the State should provide everything. Children are a financial burden on parents, there is no way out of that. So those who can afford it should pay for third-level education — and everyone should pay for water, among other things. Young people will have to work for less, too, and those who complain that this is a most dreadful country and can’t wait to get out of it should do just that. Get out, quick.
Is there literally anything that isn’t the fault of the public sector? At least, in Sindoland?
Is there literally anything that isn’t the fault of the public sector?
Shergar and Lord Lucan are buried under Liberty Hall, I’m informed.
Seemingly not. Although kudos for their ingenuity in finding new ways to blame the public sector.
It could be a new game show – you pick a problem, any problem, and the panel has to show how it was caused by the public sector.
‘Who’s Fault is it Anyway?’ (and the answer would always be the same) or ‘Who Wants to be a Pundit?’ (just the same as ‘Millionaire’ except all four answers would be same, and you’d never have to phone a friend, or ask the audience, because, well, I bet you can guess)
Meanwhile, in the SBP, we have this from Tim Hastings who clearly can’t wait for the call from the Sindo:
‘The timing of the major debate on the deal which is taking place when the NAMA and Quinn issues are in the headlines, has not helped union leaders sell the plan to their members.
At the same time, the unions are acutely aware that public sector workers are shaping up to reject a deal which incorporates guarantees on pay, while some employees in the private sector are facing further pay cuts.
The events of the last week have only highlighted the huge difference in expectations between those working in the private and public sectors’
Some brilliant moves there – the idea that it may somehow be tiresomely irrational of Public Sector works to be annoyed at NAMA and the putative Quinn rescue….. pups.
And then the elision between in para 2 ‘some private sector workers facing cuts’ to a ‘huge’ difference between (all of…)the public and private sectors.
Can they not think logically anymore? or do they think we are so panicked and stupified we can’t recognise bullshit anymore?
Well, this truly is a case of arguing everywhich way on the part of the Sunday Independent. The PS is at fault if it’s intrusive, at fault if it’s not. Whereas the private sector, which almost all polities beyond our own recognise as the driver of the global economic collapse, is somehow – if not blameless, then secondary.
It truly is a pathetic political analysis.
As for O’Rourke. Well his thoughts re emigration are fairly revoltingly complacent. Although entertaining that he believes that cutbacks in education are wrong and those imposing them have no idea of the impacts on the ground whereas he feels free to write any old stuff off the top of his head about ‘courtesy’ etc in the rest of the public sector (for example, I have no idea myself whether car tax offices close at 3, but as interesting a point were it true would be to know why that happens etc etc and explain it rather than lumping it in under the sins of the PS).
Children are a financial burden on parents, there is no way out of that.
Unless they’re offspring of Sindo writers, in which case they get cushy jobs with the paper.
By the way, notable in Harris’ piece is a curious aversion to blaming those charged with overseeing and directing those three ‘public sector bodies’ (that’s true to of O’Rourkes piece) or the tax cutting agenda at the heart of the government, etc, etc.
What actually sickens me the most is O’Rourke’s casualness about what he discusses…
“…unfortunately many may have to emigrate involuntarily, but hopefully it will be short-term.”
Oh well, that’s okay then. Nary a word about a stimulus package, or y’know, doing something to prevent us reaching that point bar nebulous ideas for ‘regeneration’ and a stern injunction that contradicts that last as regards ‘weaning us off the State’. Because of course the private sector model of enterprise has done such a bang up job for us all.
Not one of the three that Harris names, but (as I said elsewhere in the CLR recently) Bertie Ahern was contemptuous of a regulator who asked for more staff — Paul Appleby, Director of Corporate Enforcement.
So, the Government and the rest of the political class have no responsibility, apparently; and courtesy of Brendan Tuohy in the IT the other day, we know that the heads of the civil service departments also aren’t to blame. And it sure isn’t the Sindo and their colleagues in the rest of the Irish media, who were enthusiastic members of the green jersey brigade, cheerleading this stuff on for the past decade.
No, instead it’s ordinary public sector workers who had their hands on the levers of power in this country throughout the Celtic Tiger booms. Who knew?
Mr Corcoran seems to be confused. Larks are birds: they don’t have tits.
bjg
*applause*
Neither do tits.
Hi,
This is my first post and I enjoy your blog, it gives me an uplift in this age of unreason.
I’d like to add another quote from Colm O’Rourke.
“Have they all forgotten benchmarking……And benchmarking was supposed to get extra productivity, but in reality got nothing in return.”
Speak for yourself Colm, the National Competitiveness Council rank the public service fifth for productivity in the EU.
Then I thought, maybe he is speaking for himself, and found this gem:
http://ie.ratemyteachers.com/st-patrick-s-classical-school/3857-s/3
An uplift in this age of unreason… Like that a lot. Thanks yobbah.
Who is this O’Rourke fella?How many jobs does he have?
1Teacher’s salary
2 Principal’s allowance(2-3 times the annual minimum wage)
3 RTE TV pundit
4 Sindo journo
5 Articles for various other publications
6 Didn’t he run/manage a sports shop in Navan?
7 Landowner this is merely a hunch on my part,but I’ll throw it in anyway!
Harris is another multi-job holder
Couldn’t the two of them together provide employment for around 10 people, is this a solution to the unemployment crisis?
‘Bad bankers and greedy developers behaved as badly as they always do.’
And in the same article:
‘Capitalists will always be as bad as they are allowed to be by the public servants charged with watching them.’
Harris’ view of the world is so Augustinian – human nature is innately depraved and it’s the job of the state to stop people being bad, just like it used to be the job of the churches. He would have made a great (ie dictatorial and vindictive) clergyman. Next week’s column: ‘Time for some Atonement from the bankers and developers.’
More generally, wasn’t the free and undisturbed market supposed to turn private vices into public benefits, to turn greed into efficiency? When exactly did the Sindo withdraw its allegiance from this central belief?
I love it, they finally admit neo-liberalism doesn’t work but its still the public sector workers fault. When will they draw the conclusion that this is the capitalist ‘state’ and will they every see their own role as the ]’private part’ of state control. That of privatised propaganda, which to be fair, they are very poor at.
Very well observed, Bartholomew. A negative view of humanity indeed.