Blame The Recession, Not Cowen

Mark200

Looks like the recession hit just as Fianna Fail were preparing to save us!
What bad luck

THE world slump hit just when the Government was going to address the economy’s over-reliance on construction, the Taoiseach claimed yesterday.

Brian Cowen said the Government had recognised by 2007 the dangers posed by its heavy dependence on housingrelated taxes and revenue.

He said it was about to plan for a soft landing – but those intentions were immediately destroyed by an international monetary catastrophe.

Mr Cowen made the claim when asked to specify if he had ever made a mistake domestically.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/local-elections/i-had-planned-to-fix-economy-says-cowen-1745113.html

dr.bollocko

Moved from AH.
All posters redirected from AH please read the charter before posting here.

Local-womanizer

But the impact would have been less if the country managed us properly.

Anyway,I dont blame Cowen,I blame Bertie the tw@t.

SV

damn.

that's terrible

Nelson Muntz

What cock,

It's a pity Biffo & FF can't think up ideas to get the country out of the mess as easily as they can think up bullsh*t excuses why none of this is their fault.

SEPT 23 1989

Brian the Hut also called us all "doom and gloomers"

destroyer

Mark200 wrote: »

Looks like the recession hit just as Fianna Fail were preparing to save us!
What bad luck



http://www.independent.ie/national-news/local-elections/i-had-planned-to-fix-economy-says-cowen-1745113.html

Yeah Yeah yeah, and Bertie won it all on the gg's plus a couple of "digouts" and Haughey did the state some service, and politicians always tell the truth.
Cowan as minister for finance could have addressed the problem of over reliance on the building industry years ago but didn't because the tax take in the short term was more important to him than the overall health of the economy.
This is another desperate attempt to shift the blame and avoid humiliation at the polls.
Ye fcuked up big time, be a man and admit responsibility Mr Cowen
people will think more of you for that.

Dob74

oh my God we have been blaming the wrong people. Cowan was just about to save the day.
We all must vote for him.

And if my auntie had a bollock's shed be my uncle

Sizzler

Frankly if Cowen or any of his cabinet believes this for one second he/she/they need locking up.

thebman

lol I'd say my opinion of him has decreased considerably but you know it is also from the independant.

Also my opinion of him is already pretty low.

jmayo

Local-womanizer wrote: »

But the impact would have been less if the country managed us properly.

Anyway,I dont blame Cowen,I blame Bertie the tw@t.

Boll***s to that sh**e :mad:

Clowen was minister of finance, you know the post that in some circles normally means you don't bother with a bank account :rolleyes:

He was in charge of the dept of finance, which is meant to set the budgets for public sector spending, sets taxes such as the ones pertaining to property investors and speculators.
He also happened to be the minister who could have reined in Section 23/50 grants that allowed investors right off tax by buying in places like city centres or the middle of Leitrim.

Did he bring in any taxes of stop section 23/50 grants while minister of finance ?
Ehhh no he didn't.

Did he prevent the public sector spending budget increasing ?
Ehhh no he didn't.

So stop this bullsh** that he is not at fault, he was bertie's lady in waiting, his best man, his right hand man, his heavy and in order to get the gig probably his primary ar**licker.

All of FF are to blame, did any of them raise concerns or voice concerns ?
Did any of them come out and warn that the economy was being built on shaky foundations just like some of the houses were ?

They all were falling over themselves, telling us what a wonderful economy we had, how FTBs should be thankful to them for having to take out 40 year mortgage to buy any place, and how anybody that complained was a whinger. All the while they were in the pockets of builders and developers.

Look at any ff TD, councillor, Senator and I bet you will find someone in their close entourage who is builder, developer, auctioneer or estate agent.
Of course there will always be the exceptions :rolleyes:

Liam Byrne

Local-womanizer wrote: »

Anyway,I dont blame Cowen,I blame Bertie the tw@t.

Bertie's dodgy antics definitely distracted the public and the Government (and the PDs) from doing what they should have been doing, but Cowen was Minister for Finance and so is also hugely at fault.

Articles like the above are the reason why I gave up reading the Independent YEARS ago; its sister "Sindo" turned into a tabloid, and now the Independent has followed suit.

Maybe they published this fiction in order to make us realise just how deluded Cowen is, but I doubt it.

And anyway, while things will also need to be "fixed" occasionally, most normal people will do ongoing maintenance along the way before things are actually broken; why didn't Cowen take corrective action a few years ago instead of implying that the economists were doom-sayers ?

jimmmy

jmayo wrote: »

Did he prevent the public sector spending budget increasing ?
Ehhh no he didn't.

Ah shure we need highly paid people to sort us out of the mess anyway. The head of our central bank is paid more than the head of any other central bank in the world, inc Germany, UK, US, Japan etc etc. Shure did'nt our central bank and regulator and public service do a great job over the last few years...they deserve to be the best paid in the world.:rolleyes:
Bertie + the boys ( + girls ) in power also deserve great pay by international standards, shure we can afford to borrow the money to keep the country goin'( only 20 something billion this year ).
Blame the recession for the mess, not Cowen.

guinnessdrinker

FF's over reliance on the construction industry was idiotic to put it mildly but I don't think they cared too much as long as the money kept on rolling in, however and I could be wrong, I don't remember FG or Labour addressing this up until relatively recently either.

I do think though that the FF spin machine liked the idea that George Lee and David McWilliams were portrayed as doom and gloom merchants in the media when in reality all they were doing it was telling it as it was.

dresden8

Coulda woulda shoulda.

Idiot.

molloyjh

So hang on if this were true surely he is saying that they realised too late (and after a lot of other people) that our economy was in danger and was over-reliant on property. So at the very least he is admitting that for a period of time when they should have known, himself in particular as Minister for Finance, they didn't.

Now admittedly I don't believe him. You just have to look at the measures taken in the last budget re the stamp duty on houses to see that they are still looking after the builders at everyone else's expense. But which would we all prefer? A crooked Government or an inept one? As it stands FF are one or the other, the latter by their own admission.

Dalfiatach

molloyjh wrote: »

A crooked Government or an inept one? As it stands FF are one or the other, the latter by their own admission.

Both, I think.

Third-rate small-town hustlers always angling for a scam but way out of their depth. Like an amateur poker player who thinks he's good enough to play a hand with Fat Tony and the boys and ends up with concrete shoes.

Souljacker

Well if he was going to fix the economy then that's ok then. Thanks for that explanation Cowen, all is forgiven!
.

It's just a shame Cowen didn't feel fit to do something 4 years ago when ot may have made a difference.

bigeasyeah

I doubly blame him.