A new approach is needed to economy.

thefuture Init.

With a constant calling for more foreign direct investment and more and more cutbacks in social spending as the only apparent salvation for our economy surely it is time to question the fundamentals.

What can't we have an economic plan for national development that is based on the overriding principal that the plan must serve the people of Ireland? As opposed to foreign corporations, finance monopolies etc.

This article might be of interest, I really would like to hear comment/feedback around this question.

Thanks,

Diarmaid Ó Cadhla

Permabear

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Valmont

donegalfella wrote: »

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I suppose it's a sad indictment of the times, but I just had a good chuckle imagining our government sitting in an office trying to work out how to sell the "do nothing" approach.

mikemac

donegalfella wrote: »

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TK Whitaker, voted one of the greatest living Irishmen had a plan

Plans can work and do work.
Let's not knock a plan before we even see it

despite our own near bankruptcy we recently contributed €1.3 billion to rescue the Greek economy. Now the news breaks that Greece is spending €2 billion purchasing two submarines from Germany and have recently spent €1.5 billion purchasing F16 fighter jets from the US as well as other expenditure for military purchases from France. Why? Why? Why?

Ohhhhh, let me take that back
And we are lending to Greece again now why? So they can fight the Turks?

Joe1919

thefuture Init. wrote: »

With a constant calling for more foreign direct investment and more and more cutbacks in social spending as the only apparent salvation for our economy surely it is time to question the fundamentals.

I suppose one of the fundamentals is that "Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off. Trade allows each person to specialize in the activities he or she does best. By trading with others, people can buy a greater variety of goods or services.*"

So perhaps Brian Cowan is trying to do the right thing by encouraging foreign direct investment.

Scarab80

thefuture Init. wrote: »

With a constant calling for more foreign direct investment and more and more cutbacks in social spending as the only apparent salvation for our economy surely it is time to question the fundamentals.

What can't we have an economic plan for national development that is based on the overriding principal that the plan must serve the people of Ireland? As opposed to foreign corporations, finance monopolies etc.

This article might be of interest, I really would like to hear comment/feedback around this question.

Thanks,

Diarmaid Ó Cadhla

No offense mate but the article is complete nonsense, i suggest you take a look at the IDA Ireland annual report to see the costs and benefits associated with FDI in Ireland.

Some highlights from IDA supported companies in 2009.....

110bn in exports
19bn in direct expenditure in the Irish Economy
7.1bn in payroll
136,000 people employed directly and another 100,000 employed indirectly
2.8 billion paid in Corporation Tax
70% of the overall spend on R&D in the economy

And how much did we pay out in grants for all of this in 2009?? 110 million!

Sure it would be better if we had Irish companies creating this employment and income, but that is a lot easier said than done. It's no coincidence that most of this investment comes from the US, where enterprise and innovation are rewared with minimal interference from government. Implementing a similar system is the only way we will create a strong domestic economy not reliant on FDI.

Your plan reminds me of the underpants gnome plan.

Stage 1 - Plan to serve the people
Stage 2 - ???
Stage 3 - Profit!!

zootroid

Rubbish article, full of populist nonsense.

The author rails against large corporations, even though he admits that they provide large amounts of employment. While companies will pay a low corporation tax, the employees employed will pay income tax and VAT when they spend. There will also be the emergence of other companies to supply large corporations with goods or services, for example, they would use local haulage companies to deliver their goods to ports.

The author then rails against competition (the "race to the bottom"), which seems to suggest that Irish companies should be protected by tariffs. Ignoring the fact that we are part of a single European market and this would be illegal, competition improves productivity and innovation, and brings lower prices to consumers.

The end of the article doesn't actually offer any suggestions, just that the economy should be planned to serve the Irish people, and utilise our natural resources. Given that we have very few natural resources, I'm not sure what the author is driving at here. And to exploit our natural resources (say for example he means generate electricity using wind/wave energy), we need investment. The government is currently spending 20 billion a year more than it takes in in revenue, so it can't afford it. The private sector have no access to cash as the banks are broke, so no luck there. So the only source of possible investment will need to come from abroad! But the author already dismissed that idea!!

Aside from that, such an investment is unlikely to deliver a huge amount of jobs. Which is another reason why Ireland targets FDI. It wants to attract foreign investment in industries which are not tied to any particular natural resource, eg manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, IT components, financial services. The government talks about investing in research and development, and while the goal is desirable, our education system isn't up to scratch for that.

wiseguy

donegalfella wrote: »

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I bet they would screw that approach up to somehow

zootroid

Scarab80 wrote: »

No offense mate but the article is complete nonsense, i suggest you take a look at the IDA Ireland annual report to see the costs and benefits associated with FDI in Ireland.

Some highlights from IDA supported companies in 2009.....

110bn in exports
19bn in direct expenditure in the Irish Economy
7.1bn in payroll
136,000 people employed directly and another 100,000 employed indirectly
2.8 billion paid in Corporation Tax
70% of the overall spend on R&D in the economy

And how much did we pay out in grants for all of this in 2009?? 110 million!

Sure it would be better if we had Irish companies creating this employment and income, but that is a lot easier said than done. It's no coincidence that most of this investment comes from the US, where enterprise and innovation are rewared with minimal interference from government. Implementing a similar system is the only way we will create a strong domestic economy not reliant on FDI.

Your plan reminds me of the underpants gnome plan.

Stage 1 - Plan to serve the people
Stage 2 - ???
Stage 3 - Profit!!

Had to chuckle at that bit!!