David McWilliams

EdgarAllenPoo

Am I the only one who cannot stand the sight or sound of him.

All his stupid little catchphrases and buzzwords, if he actually had anything of any pratical use to say one day I think I'd have a heart attack.

The annoying thing about him is that from what I've heard he knows his stuff but why does he have to go on like some cheesy door to door salesman "the generation game, the Jack Charlton Theory of Economics,Decklanders":mad:

yomchi

So you hate him because of buzzwords and catcphrases?

Nothing to do with him being a good economist? I think his style of delivery is easier for the layman to understand more about economics than your usual drab grey descriptions.
I thought his analogy of Isreal using its diaspora and Ireland with a much bigger one not using it at all was very interesting.
McWilliams makes you think.

rivers

i saw him on the late late last night. it seems he just regurgitates what he read in time and the newspapers over the last few months and puts its in a book.
He doesn't have much original stuff to say in my opinion...

and yea his 'buzzwords' are pretty annoying.

Newaglish

I find it all real Pop Economics - that original book with his "breakfast roll man" crap was excruciating.

I don't think he does any actual research or anything? It's all really basic knowledge wrapped up in stupid jargon.

oleras

Jon wrote:

I thought his analogy of Isreal using its diaspora and Ireland with a much bigger one not using it at all was very interesting.

That was a bad analogy i thought, apples and oranges, its one thing isreal offering any Jew a passport, for selfish political reasons. What will Ireland do ? Use the grandmother rule and offer a passport to anyone from any nation if they can prove lineage ? Can you imagine how many millions of people would want an irish passport, and worse still, want to live here ? I dont think there are a lot of Jews holding isreal passports living in isreal, for one reason or another !

doonothing

when i was in 5th year, the 4th years printed o0ut his head hundreds of times and wore them as badges and put them as stickers on everything. when we asked "...why?" we were told "why?! its dave mc williams, man!!"

that was kinda entertaining..

falterego

Op you're definitely not the only one and it's good to know i'm not either.I despise this man and his views.He is irritatingly smug, even john boweman on Questions & Answers had a dig at him for giving everyone a 'tutorial' on one show.Aside from his ridiculous haircut and repulsive personality I fundamentally disagree with everthing he has to say, what a combo!

eth0_

There is no doubt he is a talented economist, but his delivery is excrutiating. His books and interviews make me cringe. The analogies and buzzwords are just so lame.

shay_562

Gah, can't stand the guy. It's all generalities and vague crap wrapped up in a funny buzzword, which is both patronising and uninformative. Plus, he hit me with a door once, which (petty as it may sound) has made me somewhat hostile towards him ever since.

EdgarAllenPoo

shay_562 wrote:

Plus, he hit me with a door once, which (petty as it may sound) has made me somewhat hostile towards him ever since.

Did he do it on purpose?

is_that_so

Jon wrote:

So you hate him because of buzzwords and catcphrases?

Nothing to do with him being a good economist? I think his style of delivery is easier for the layman to understand more about economics than your usual drab grey descriptions.
I thought his analogy of Isreal using its diaspora and Ireland with a much bigger one not using it at all was very interesting.
McWilliams makes you think.

Would settle for George Lee, Jim Power and any of the other economists over McWilliams any day.

He just makes me think that he is a prat. His latest "idea" is up there with the "lizards of Icke". He also runs the risk of being branded racist and tbh saying third generation Paddies are more welcome than Eastern Europeans suggests a tenuous grasp on reality.

mike65

shay_562 wrote:

he hit me with a door once, which (petty as it may sound) has made me somewhat hostile towards him ever since.

Lucky that McWilliams is a lightweight, Moore McDowell would have killed you!

Mike.

shay_562

GDM wrote:

Did he do it on purpose?

Nah, he didn't even notice, which just made it more embarrassing tbh

Sinfonia

Unbearably smug and cringy; give me drab economists anyday, the material should speak for itself.

knird evol

I think you all fail to appreciate David McWilliams because your
ill informed. I think his views on random violence outside pubs and cocaine use were extrememly accurate and insightful.

colc1

falterego wrote:

Op you're definitely not the only one and it's good to know i'm not either.I despise this man and his views.He is irritatingly smug, even john boweman on Questions & Answers had a dig at him for giving everyone a 'tutorial' on one show.Aside from his ridiculous haircut and repulsive personality I fundamentally disagree with everthing he has to say, what a combo!

There is some very strong language there to be honest its not a really serious discussion whether people like this guy or not

K-9

knird evol wrote:

I think you all fail to appreciate David McWilliams because your
ill informed. I think his views on random violence outside pubs and cocaine use were extrememly accurate and insightful.

Missed that part!

Was that not earlier in the show, and was it not Paul Reynolds.

zuutroy

He's a muppet. That book was painful, horrendously cynical, inhumane much.

johnnyskeleton

Has anyone said that he's ginger?

While I can't stand him, I think it is important that there is a public figure who makes it clear to people that the good times are not going to last forever.

Did I mention that he's ginger?

Uuuh Patsy

eth0_ wrote:

There is no doubt he is a talented economist, but his delivery is excruciating. His books and interviews make me cringe. The analogies and buzzwords are just so lame.

Talented my Ar*e. This guy has been predicting the property crash for at least the last ten years. Long before I bought my first house. Boy am I glad i didn't listen to him. Hes just another waffler. Although I admire his ability to make money out of consistently making predictions about things that nobody really cares about. Economists have the whole prediction thing sown up in that they can get away with changing their minds every week and nobody sees that they are making it up.

lintdrummer

My girlfriend finds David McWiliams attractive.

I'm not jealous, I swear :cool:

admiralofthefleet

hate the twat, he tries to be a mix between fintan o toole and matt cooper in my opinion. o toole and cooper are legends as well

McSandwich

Am I the only one who likes David McWilliams take on the world of economics? He makes it all very interesting - unlike the staid texts I struggled through in School. Is it not a good thing that he's introducing people, who would otherwise run a mile, to the important economic issues affecting us today?

I'm looking forward to 'Ireland's Generation Game' on Monday night.

lukegriffen

is_that_so wrote:

Would settle for George Lee, Jim Power and any of the other economists over McWilliams any day.

Everytime I hear George Lee speak I'm glued to the tv/radio. The sense of urgency, intonation & clarity in his speech gets me every time. Then a few minutes later the spell is broken and I realise it wasn't that earth-shattering what he was saying.

Don't have any time for the McDonald fellow.

Baggly

McSandwich wrote:

Is it not a good thing that he's introducing people, who would otherwise run a mile, to the important economic issues affecting us today?

The economy has survived without them so far...

McSandwich

LOTP wrote:

The economy has survived without them so far...

There will always be an economy but if want to take advantage of it's ups and downs then knowing something about it can help..

Terry

McSandwich wrote:

Am I the only one who likes David McWilliams take on the world of economics? He makes it all very interesting - unlike the staid texts I struggled through in School. Is it not a good thing that he's introducing people, who would otherwise run a mile, to the important economic issues affecting us today?

I'm looking forward to 'Ireland's Generation Game' on Monday night.

You're him, aren't you?

McSandwich

Terry wrote:

You're him, aren't you?

Well I'm not a ginger nut and I'm 5hite with money, if that answers your question?

aidan_dunne

The thing that annoys me about David McWilliams is that he seems to think that he always needs to completely "dumb things down" and use buzzwords and catchphrases so us "normal folk" will be able to understand what he's saying. Someone needs to tell him that the entire population of this country aren't actually in fact completely and totally brain-dead, despite what he thinks, and that most of us would probably be able to understand what he was saying without the need to dumb it down and use buzzwords all the time. He just seems to come across with this condesending attitude of "I know all this complicated financial stuff inside-out but everybody else is too stupid to even begin to understand it so I'd better put it in simple terms for all those brain-dead idiots out there." And it's such a shame he has that attitude about him because he actually does sound like knows what he's talking about. I just think if he didn't treat us all like idiots people would have a bit more respect for him and take him more seriously.

Plus, I'm starting to think he gets off on the fact he likes hearing other people repeating the buzzwords he "invented" all the time! I get the feeling he thinks to himself "God, I loved hearing 'Celtic Tiger' being used as every second word in every sentence out of every person in this country for so long. It gets me sooooo hard! I need to come up with more catchphrases and buzzwords that people will be speaking all the time for years to come. 'Jack Charlton Theory of Economics', 'The Celtic Cubs', 'Decklanders'..... oh God, yes..... 'Irish Diaspora', 'The Polish Pound'..... yes.... YES.... I'm cumming, I'M CUMMING!!!!!" :eek:

Come on, people, you know it's true! We all know he gets off on buzzwords and catchphrases! After all the cathprases he came out with during his interview on 'The Late Late Show' the other night he probably had to rush backstage afterwards and pull himself off furiously! :eek:

cousin_borat

I'd say the reason he annoys is that he cuts close the bone.

The hostility on this thread in a way vindicates his comments about Irish culture at the moment.

is_that_so

cousin_borat wrote:

I'd say the reason he annoys is that he cuts close the bone.

The hostility on this thread in a way vindicates his comments about Irish culture at the moment.

If people were really interested in economics they would go to more sober sources which actually explain things, with context and don't involve McWilliams musing out loud. I don't know if he is right or not but "Breakfast Roll Man" sends me off to another station and his genius is lost to me.

McWilliams has an ability to annoy people with his overuse of his own clichés, his reduction of everything to a clever tag and the fact that he thinks he has invented everything since the Internet, oops that was Gore sorry.:rolleyes:

Sometimes the messenger is part of the problem, like the other two legends mentioned.

mike65

There is no place for a sober low key economics guru. They want to be famous, sell books and more worring, actualy influence public policy. They won't have to take the flak if it turns out thier proselytizing is wrong.

McWilliams is merely the apotheosis of this phenomenon.

Mike.

wowy

He didn't coin the phrase "Celtic Tiger". He'd like people to think that he did, but he's been careful to never overtly claim it as his creation; he merely promoted it's early use, and thus people associate it with him (which he's surely very happy about).

As regards his over-use of buzzwords aidan_dunne, I think he knows that a lot of people would understand what he was saying if he used normal economics language. However, there'd also be a LOT of people who wouldn't have a clue what he was on about. He's merely coming across so as to appeal to the lowesr common denominator.

And about the buzzwords, tbh what's the problem? Having sat through many horrendously boring economics lectures, I appreciate McWilliams' approach of simplification. Sure, I'd know what he was on about if he used economic jargon, but I wouldn't be interested in what he was on about. This was I am. And I bet a lot of people are the same.

Nightwish

emmettogara wrote:

My girlfriend finds David McWiliams attractive.

I'm not jealous, I swear :cool:

Well your girlfriend aint alone!

Raskolnikov

wowy wrote:

He didn't coin the phrase "Celtic Tiger". He'd like people to think that he did, but he's been careful to never overtly claim it as his creation; he merely promoted it's early use, and thus people associate it with him (which he's surely very happy about).

Not true, I've heard him explicitly credit the original inventor of the phrase, once in public and once in a newspaper article.

bobzi

He's a self publicising smug little git with a face in need of a good slapping

wowy

Raskolnikov wrote:

Not true, I've heard him explicitly credit the original inventor of the phrase, once in public and once in a newspaper article.

I stand corrected.

jimmycrackcorm

McWilliams is like the economic equivalent of the greenpeace global warming proponent. You know he makes sense but you still drive to work in the morning.


Still his theory on the diaspora is endearing given that we have St. Patricks day celebrations worldwide.

Bex81

wowy wrote:

He didn't coin the phrase "Celtic Tiger". He'd like people to think that he did, but he's been careful to never overtly claim it as his creation; he merely promoted it's early use, and thus people associate it with him (which he's surely very happy about).

As regards his over-use of buzzwords aidan_dunne, I think he knows that a lot of people would understand what he was saying if he used normal economics language. However, there'd also be a LOT of people who wouldn't have a clue what he was on about. He's merely coming across so as to appeal to the lowesr common denominator.

And about the buzzwords, tbh what's the problem? Having sat through many horrendously boring economics lectures, I appreciate McWilliams' approach of simplification. Sure, I'd know what he was on about if he used economic jargon, but I wouldn't be interested in what he was on about. This was I am. And I bet a lot of people are the same.

I have to say I agree with wowy here. I have studied economics for 4 years and I still find his outlook on the Irish Economy far more interesting and easily digested than most lecturers Ive endured. The more people understand about the working of their own economy the better IMO

Sleepy

Another one here who agrees with wowy, I've a B. Comm and I still find his way of presenting stuff more enjoyable than, for example, the treatment the Wall Street Journal would give the same views.

I think a lot of the resentment for McWilliams comes from people recognising some of themselves in the caricatures of Irish people he paints and not liking what they see.

DO0GLE

Sleepy wrote:

Another one here who agrees with wowy, I've a B. Comm and I still find his way of presenting stuff more enjoyable than, for example, the treatment the Wall Street Journal would give the same views.

I think a lot of the resentment for McWilliams comes from people recognising some of themselves in the caricatures of Irish people he paints and not liking what they see.

I agree...some people know that they fall under the 'decklander' category and the like and don't like to be made small.

MOH

Can't stand him +1

GeorgeBailey

MOH wrote:

Can't stand him +1

+1 more... and I don't fit into any of his categories, I just find them genuinely annoying.

is_that_so

Sleepy wrote:

Another one here who agrees with wowy, I've a B. Comm and I still find his way of presenting stuff more enjoyable than, for example, the treatment the Wall Street Journal would give the same views.

I think a lot of the resentment for McWilliams comes from people recognising some of themselves in the caricatures of Irish people he paints and not liking what they see.

Overbearing smugness does not endear you to people, however much truth there may be in it. I've no idea what label I have and quite frankly I don't care. I have never been able to listen to or read the man long enough. He just hits my off switch instantly. Some people are just irritating and IMO he's up there with Eddie Hobbs, Fintan O'Toole and that wonderful senator who does "Bertie's PR".

Drummerboy2

Mr McWilliams has been preaching doom and gloom for well over 5 years now. If he keeps it up he is bound to be right sometime.

mike65

Stopped clock theory indeed. Still I might just watch his programme tonight, if only to see how many McWilliams cliches can be checked off.

Mike.

oleras

mike65 wrote:

Stopped clock theory indeed. Still I might just watch his programme tonight, if only to see how many McWilliams cliches can be checked off.

Mike.

Could we make a game out of it ? have prizes ?:D ......speaking of which....off to feedback with me !!

mickd

is_that_so wrote:

Some people are just irritating and IMO he's up there with Eddie Hobbs, Fintan O'Toole and that wonderful senator who does "Bertie's PR".

Nail on the head!!

mike65

Gad its worse than I thought.

Take a bunch of factoids, garnish with a sprinkling of fatuous archetypes, boil until dry and present the lumpy conclusion as "infotainment" for Mary and Joe who'd like to know more about this kind of stuff but not put any great effort into it.

Mike.

You Suck!

Someone needs to tell him that the entire population of this country aren't actually in fact completely and totally brain-dead, despite what he thinks, and that most of us would probably be able to understand what he was saying without the need to dumb it down and use buzzwords all the time.

I don't see what all the fuss is about on the part of those who hate, hes right, we the population of this country are idiots! We made crazy frog a no. one, We won the euro visionmore then is humanly bearable, We as a nation spawned louis walsh and his spawn of satan........







































...........We voted bertie in three times.

Maybe, just maybe his crappy cliches have good reasoning. And, no doubt many of you here are saying that dosn't apply to you, maybe it dosn't but then that might also be the reason that your here on boards discussing it unlike the majority of the nation.

stolenwine

He is what I would call a "tato subscribing gingerphile" oh my aren't I witty and erudite. er........no

There isn't enough hatred.....