Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week January 13, 2013
Posted by Garibaldy in Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week.trackback
A quiet enough week – the usual ranting against RTÉ, public sector fat cats etc, but this from Marc Coleman is a gem.
All of us have heard about the boy who cried wolf. But have you heard about the boy who cried “recovery”?
In the late Nineties and Noughties predictions titillated our interest and sold books and newspapers. But the warnings were issued too early and were based on hype and sensationalism rather than facts and figures. For years no wolf came and by the time we finally needed to hear it, it had lost its power to make us listen.Now we face the reverse risk. Ireland’s potential to recover has always been stressed by this column. We cannot only recover but also reach new heights of prosperity. But can is not the same as will. With the phrases “we are turning the corner” and “the worst is over” increasingly on the lips of pundits and politicians, we need to be sure the evidence is there to back it up. In economics, confidence in the future is crucial to recovery. But if, like the boy who cried wolf, the message of recovery is debased by spin it could dent public confidence in a recovery when it finally does come.
And what were you shouting Marc when we needed to hear the word “wolf”?
‘ Last year also saw the IDA’s hard work restore employment levels to pre-crisis levels.-Marc Coleman.
‘Total employment continues to fall’-Colm McCarthy
‘Ireland’s exporters continue to work wonders in a challenging climate.’-Marc Coleman
‘there is no broad-based recovery in the volume of exports….Unfortunately some of these services exports seem to be a statistical illusion: large multinationals based here are routing a large portion of their European sales volumes through Ireland for tax mitigation reasons,’-Colm McCarthy
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/colm-mccarthy-the-recovery-has-not-begun-all-spin-aside-3350245.html
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He was shouting ‘it’s the public sector’s fault’. He still shouts it.
This is the man who still thinks that Ray MacSharry’s cuts in 1987 were the sole catalyst for the economic recovery of the 1990s – I think he could have this slot dedicated entirely to him. Then you could have a separate one for Stephen Collins, and then one for the Sindo.
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And isn’t this the Marc Coleman who published, in 2007, just before the bubble burst, ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’, a book which predicted continued growth?
The boys who cried ‘crash’ were outlaws in 2007. The boys who cry ‘recovery’ now are spinners for austerity and the ‘success’ of government policy.
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In reverse sentiment to HG Wells and bicycles, one of the advantages of exile is that one is spared that despair for the human race every time you see a grown up reading the Irish Independent.
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There’s also something to be said for not being able to understand all the stupid things you can hear people saying.
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There is that 🙂
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What would be the Flann O’Brien reverse sentiment on that one?
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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0113/breaking36.html
Speaking about the public sector.
My God! A political party having influence within a Union! Never heard of the likes…
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wow, Onionesq but quite a scoop in some ways I suppose.
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