Ireland lacks moral fibre

prince_buster

We have talked ourselves into a depression.

The national response to the current economic downturn is painting Ireland in an unflattering light. It has to be said our own media is to blame - focusing initially on the public service, pressurising an uncertain government into unilateral action and attacking ordinary workers with families and mortgages who are bewildered by what has happened to them, putting some greasy-haired looking kid on the the telly telling everyone the unemployed are next to suffer. Tens of thousands of private sector workers are losing their jobs daily and they are just a footnote in media reports, while we have academic economists in bow ties talking out of their arses (who incidentally could not predict either the boom or the depression) and telling working class people how they are living beyond their means.

Meanwhile the banks get on as usual. I was talking to somebody in BOI the other day - he is unaffected totally by the crisis. He still gets his 11 hours overtime a week, as well as a €70 bonus for carrying a mobile phone. No talk of job losses or pay cuts - indeed he got a 3.5% pay increase recently. All while the Irish taxpayer funds their profiglacy.

Time to ask a salient question. Are we really concerned with solving this crisis or are we about preserving the current status quo i.e. the banks must be bailed out at all costs. I do not think Ireland as a nation posesses the b-a-l-l-s to make the tough decisions and dismiss a generation of cronyism which is at the heart of our problems.

Welcome to the new world order - it's called anarchy

yoshytoshy

People are angry because they were lied to ,it has nothing to do with the media.

johnnyskeleton

prince_buster wrote: »

We have talked ourselves into a depression.

No we haven't. Quite apart from the fact that it would be very difficult for a country to talk itself into depression, the mainstream media tried to deny any sort of bad news until last October. That's about 2 years of trying to talk up a rapidly decreasing economy. We are in a recession/depression despite the majority view talk of neverending good times, rather than because of the minority view talk of economic problems.

prince_buster wrote: »

The national response to the current economic downturn is painting Ireland in an unflattering light. It has to be said our own media is to blame - focusing initially on the public service, pressurising an uncertain government into unilateral action and attacking ordinary workers with families and mortgages who are bewildered by what has happened to them, putting some greasy-haired looking kid on the the telly telling everyone the unemployed are next to suffer. Tens of thousands of private sector workers are losing their jobs daily and they are just a footnote in media reports, while we have academic economists in bow ties talking out of their arses (who incidentally could not predict either the boom or the depression) and telling working class people how they are living beyond their means.

No, it is the corruption and incopetence during the boom, and not the response to the bust, that did the damage. The media can only be blamed for not reporting on the problems when they were happening. They are not stirring it up at the moment - that is being done by other people and the media are just reporting it. Some academic economists predicted how things would pan out, Prof. Morgan Kelly being the obvious one. Some working class people are living beyond their means, and its best that they be told this sooner rather than later. Granted, it would have been better to tell them this before they took on massive mortgages, but that just brings it back to my first point.

prince_buster wrote: »

Meanwhile the banks get on as usual. I was talking to somebody in BOI the other day - he is unaffected totally by the crisis. He still gets his 11 hours overtime a week, as well as a €70 bonus for carrying a mobile phone. No talk of job losses or pay cuts - indeed he got a 3.5% pay increase recently. All while the Irish taxpayer funds their profiglacy.

Bank of Ireland have had a lot of job cuts and are likely to have more, together with salary cuts.

prince_buster wrote: »

Time to ask a salient question. Are we really concerned with solving this crisis or are we about preserving the current status quo i.e. the banks must be bailed out at all costs. I do not think Ireland as a nation posesses the b-a-l-l-s to make the tough decisions and dismiss a generation of cronyism which is at the heart of our problems.

What is the solution to this crisis? Is there one?

prince_buster wrote: »

Welcome to the new world order - it's called anarchy

No it's not.

prince_buster

Address the title - we are a nation of begrudgers. We are too busy pointing the finger of blame at everyone else in Ireland

Where is the problem solving? where are the creative ideas? I see nothing other than an await America solve our problems for us. Guess what geniuses, it ain't gonna happen. So quit with the the sneering we-know-what-you-don't-****e, you know nothing. You never have known anything and your conventional ideas are redundant. Capitalism is over - 20 years after communism failed it is in the grave - get over it

New world order awaits..

old boy

our ex leader said that any one speaking of a recession should commit sucide, he also said there was no fear of dell closing as people were not going back to using pencils and biros

Sand

Where is the problem solving? where are the creative ideas? I see nothing other than an await America solve our problems for us. Guess what geniuses, it ain't gonna happen. So quit with the the sneering we-know-what-you-don't-****e, you know nothing. You never have known anything and your conventional ideas are redundant. Capitalism is over - 20 years after communism failed it is in the grave - get over it

Nah, I like the sneering I know what you dont. More than likely its true given your OP.

As for anarchy - given whats coming out of Anglo Irish and the Financial Regulator, weve been trying that for the past few years. Doesnt seem to have worked out.

yoshytoshy

prince_buster wrote: »

Address the title - we are a nation of begrudgers. We are too busy pointing the finger of blame at everyone else in Ireland

Where is the problem solving? where are the creative ideas? I see nothing other than an await America solve our problems for us. Guess what geniuses, it ain't gonna happen. So quit with the the sneering we-know-what-you-don't-****e, you know nothing. You never have known anything and your conventional ideas are redundant. Capitalism is over - 20 years after communism failed it is in the grave - get over it

New world order awaits..

Fianna fail had long enough to learn the ropes ,nobody should show them what to do now.

Vote for a new government and take it from there.

johnnyskeleton

prince_buster wrote: »

Address the title - we are a nation of begrudgers. We are too busy pointing the finger of blame at everyone else in Ireland

To address the title (which is not mentioned much in your OP) moral fibre is an individual characteristic so a country cannot have or lack moral fibre. Some people may not live up to your moral standards but that's completely subjective. More objective criteria are issues such as incompetence, corruption and lack of innovation, of which a lot of people suffer from.

prince_buster wrote: »

Where is the problem solving? where are the creative ideas? I see nothing other than an await America solve our problems for us. Guess what geniuses, it ain't gonna happen.

Well I asked you what the solution was, and you haven't given us the solution yet. I know what I'm doing, and I know what I would do if I were running the country, but I don't want to get into it here as you are the one talking about lacking moral fibre.

prince_buster wrote: »

So quit with the the sneering we-know-what-you-don't-****e, you know nothing. You never have known anything and your conventional ideas are redundant.

I don't think anyone was sneering, so much as disagreeing with you. What makes you think that we have conventional ideas (& this begs the question why is it redundant). Also, if we know nothing, please enlighten us.

prince_buster wrote: »

Capitalism is over - 20 years after communism failed it is in the grave - get over it

New world order awaits..

There are a myriad of different forms of capitalism and communism. Anarchy, as you referred to in your OP also has a number of forms but is generally accepted to be unachieveable in a reality of civil society and finite goods.

If you are talking about a new world order, the conspiracy theories forum is over there ->

Scofflaw

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

If you are talking about a new world order, the conspiracy theories forum is over there ->

OP, heed those directions. There is a reason why we have a Conspiracy Theories forum, and why it is separate from Politics.

moderately,
Scofflaw

Denerick

How do we prepare for this new world order? Will I have time to empty my current account first?

AlekSmart

Denerick,If I were you I`d check that Current Account now,just in case it`s already been appropriated or levied to save the Country.

When the time does come,the accounts of the Great Unwashed will most likely be sequestered over a weekend,whilst the owners of same are at Fairyhouse Races or some other such diversion.

On an associated topic....Who employs the IMF..???...as in who`s their Boss......God ?

luckat

Prince_buster - you're welcome to buy my house at last year's prices.

eoinbn

What a rant!
You are a little all over the place, but some is spot on. You say we lack moral fibre, which is true, but then you complain about the elite saying that the working class people are living beyond their means, which is unfortunately also true.

Bank running costs are the of our least problems. Yes we need a pay freeze, but the unions are as hellbent as they were 6 months ago on pushing through the 3.5% increase.

And no we won't "dismiss a generation of cronyism", as we quite like them! We elect TD's to tar roads, maybe even a bypass, or to get some extra funding for the local GAA club. Running the country is secondary.

thebigcheese22

This thread is exactly the kind of attitude that the Government is using to force us with these unequitable cuts.

Irish people possess plenty of 'moral fibre', unlike this Government, and it is just facetious to blame everything on the people.

We didn't hand out loans recklessely etc...its just convenient to blame the average Bob on the street.

Get a grip OP and quit trolling.