Connecticut singing Ireland's praises

snow scorpion

Europe's success story Here come the Irish


Amid the murky gray of Europe's economic doldrums, an emerald-green bright spot shines: Ireland.

Over the past decade, unemployment has fallen from about 15 percent to 4.4 percent. Help-wanted ads fill the newspapers, and for the first time since the Potato Famine, even the Irish are returning home: 130,000 from the United States alone over the last five years.

Most of the immigrants are highly educated, and instead of fretting about a brain drain, Ireland publicly boasts of a "brain gain." Its per capita gross domestic product, $37,738, is the highest in the European Union.

The reason: Ireland has chosen to let business do what business does best: create jobs and spread prosperity. Total business taxes, about 30 percent elsewhere in Europe and about 35 percent in the United States, are 12.5 percent. Ireland also offers a 20 percent tax credit for research and development.

The Associated Press reports that during the past decade, more than 1,000 multinational companies realized they could thrive in Ireland and set up shop. Almost overnight, Ireland became Europe's leader in enterprises based on innovation.

If Connecticut's leaders genuinely want to restore vitality to this state's once-vibrant economy, they need only look across the Atlantic and follow the example of the auld sod.

source here

whizzbang

Interesting story, I'm not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that our economy has boomed so much that local papers in Conneticut are reporting on us! Usually these American papers only report whats 10 miles up the road and 10 mile down the other way!

coolhandluke

I think that article is a bit late to the party,while no one could argue through most of the 90's and early 2000's we had a great little economy going,the irish economy for the last 3 years has been running mostly on domestic construction and personal debt.As george lee put it,the celtic tiger died 5 years ago,unless there is some serious correcting measures taken this economy is in big trouble due to the greed of
1.Financial Institutions 2.Government and 3. The people themselves.