The gains of the Celtic Tiger vs the losses of the recession

Rabidlamb wrote: »

There are many inflated stories about Celtic Tiger excess that some of the 20 somethings on here must read shaking their head.
Not all of us took a share in a horse or bought jet skis, maybe a shopping trip to New York & ticking a few European cities off your to do list was as far as many got.
Sure 8-10% pay rises each year seem colossal now but the increased standard of living brought costs that nullified many of the gains.

In contrast the recession has been felt far deeper & longer.
No one has escaped the affect, even protected PS workers & pensioners have lost family members to emigration, a younger generation to inflated mortgages & negative equity.
School & college leavers have lost that opportunity to get on the career ladder early on, the pride that comes with your first reasonable wage.

We are told that these economic stages happen in cycles.
I would argue, from a human perspective, that the peaks of growth aren't high enough to justify the depths of recession that follows.

In fairness, this deep a recession hasn't hit the west since the 1930s. It's difficult to look at this recession as a typical example of boom to bust.

The over inflation of the economy happened really between 2002 and 2007. SW increases began back in 2002, as with other increases PS. Although house prices were climbing, bit by bit, before then. With PS and wage increases, house prices spiralled.

So the real damage happened between those 5 years. And it took another year to go bust. We're now four years in of the bust and no end in sight.

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

I had a blast, was earning a fortune on overtime etc, 4 holidays a year etc. Then saved up about 10k and spent it on 2 years backpacking, only to come back to the recession. I never got a mortgage though which was unusual for someone my age, nearly everyone I know bought something.
So now I have a job and no debts and it's all hunky dory. The recession didn't feck everyone up but I feel for those who have it rough now.

*high fives*

One of the myths of the Tiger years was that everyone was rolling in money. Sure jobs were easier to get and that meant more people had money to spend. But the reality is that the boom passed the average person by. I got a job in a respected multinational back in '05. Production line job. Pay was €360 a week and believe me they worked you hard for every red cent. That was €18720. Some people complained about the money but a good friend of mine pointed out that most people were better off than those who would probably have shop or service jobs with considerably longer hours and less pay. So much for the boom.

In practical terms I was on less money in 2005 than in 2000. No only that I was effectively worse off thanks to spiralling prices, rents and mortgages. Yeah sure mortgages were easier to get. But there was still a minimum. I was priced out of it.

My story is far from unique. Indeed it's probably typical.

The BIG difference was access to credit. Everyone had it and when you're on lowish pay it's a temptation. That's why so many people are in trouble now.

It's gone the other way now. No jobs, no access to credit.

So don't believe the hype about the boom. We weren't all greedy speculators. Most of us were actually worse off and now we're all paying for the criminals and politicians who used the boom to gamble wildly. As usual they're getting away with it.

It also makes my blood boil when I read commentators who tell you we lost our way during the boom. That we are rediscovering all the old values now that the money is gone. Yeah sure, we're back were we belong, poverty, recession, unemployment, emigration. The old values we all knew and loved for those of us who grew up in the eighties. Most of us never lost our way. We couldn't afford to.

eth0 wrote: »

That is still quite a bit of excess. Spending 400e+ on a ticket and a load more on just being there for the few days only to buy a load of shoite that you can order online from China anyway is a very celtic tiger thing to do.

I thought that was madness when it was happening.

I think what galled me the most is that people were going to this amazing, cultural, vibrant city and... shopping. Nothing much else. Now when I do eventually get to NYC for a holiday, I might do a bit of shopping on one of the days, but it won't be my primary reason for visiting.

eth0 wrote: »

Roads are actually quite good in Ireland. It's just where I happen to live they're fooking brutal. Anywhere I travel to in Ireland the roads are good, even the remote out of the way places I'd be going to

If you're travelling from Dublin to another part of the country, the roads are pretty good, but the major link roads between other cities and towns are very poor - especially in the West of Ireland.

For example, if you want to travel from Galway to Belfast via Sligo, you'll take the N17 & N16 before you hit the A4. The N17 is a one lane country road for a large part of it, most of which doesn't even have a hard shoulder and the N16 is one of the worst roads in the country which frequently gets flooded. For the most part, there are only small stretches where you can overtake safely and the trip is full of hazardous bends and varying degrees in the standards of road surfaces.

This is a 340km drive, which with a decent road should take about 3.5 hours, but which can take 5/6 hours or more, depending on how many Yarises and tractors you get stuck behind.

starbelgrade wrote: »

If you're travelling from Dublin to another part of the country, the roads are pretty good, but the major link roads between other cities and towns are very poor - especially in the West of Ireland.

For example, if you want to travel from Galway to Belfast via Sligo, you'll take the N17 & N16 before you hit the A4. The N17 is a one lane country road for a large part of it, most of which doesn't even have a hard shoulder and the N16 is one of the worst roads in the country which frequently gets flooded. For the most part, there are only small stretches where you can overtake safely and the trip is full of hazardous bends and varying degrees in the standards of road surfaces.

This is a 340km drive, which with a decent road should take about 3.5 hours, but which can take 5/6 hours or more, depending on how many Yarises and tractors you get stuck behind.

By any chance is the N16 the road with plenty of white crosses galore erected at the side of the road? Probably to mark a death. But there's 100s of the crosses.