Same Circus Different Clowns

ChippingSodbury

I watched some of the Budget Speech this afternoon and couldn't help but think that the same, some very anonymous, faces will be in there again after the General Election, albeit mostly the faces on the Opposition Benches.

I can't remember anyone from the Opposition voicing their horror at the amount of money that was being spent, the increases, which inevitably become permanent, to Social Welfare etc. through the boom years. I still remember watching Derek McDowell replying on behalf of Labour to a Budget around 2000/ 2001 when the creation of the National Pension Reserve Fund was anounced and he just couldn't believe that the Gov were putting money away and not spending it on the "needy". When the new Gov take power, I can't imagine that it will be any different to the ineptitude shown by the current lot.

I constantly hear Pat Rabbitte wittering on about "we didn't cause this crisis" and to be honest, if he had been in power, I cant imagine that we wouldn't have been in a worse position than we currently find ourselves. Our current budget deficit is the root of our problems, followed by the banks, but our deficit over a few years will dwarf the bank bailout.

How do we stop ourselves getting into this mess again, and that's presuming that we can extricate ourselves this time? I think we have way too many TDs which makes policies that are driven from local issues with no eye on the national good. I don't have the answers as to how to fix the system, maybe general elections more on the line of the European Elections would serve us better: 12 or 15 seats in total and then Ministers etc. (who have qualifications & proven track records in the appropriate areas) selected/ appointed by the 12.

Any other ideas because I'm getting depressed thinking about having Enda Kenny (or Eamonn Gilmore!) as Taoiseach next year?

creeper1

The Labour party are a bunch of incomptent buffoons. I too remember them banging on the table wanting more money spent on everything.

Pat Rabbitte is an absolute disgrace. How easy is it to say things like "you ruined our country!" to FF ministers. How much harder is it to actually provide solutions? Do you see any solutions coming from them? They that propose to reverse all cuts given to the public sector.

Labour party in power means you may as well have Jack O'Connor as a leader. IMAGINE THAT.

ChippingSodbury

Jack O'Connor: perish the thought!
I didn't hear Sinn Feins response yesterday but I'm sure it was forgettable. When Pearse Doherty got elected in the By-Election, he was interviewed and asked what changes he would make: I thought it laughable that he wanted to put a stimulus package together to help all of the unemployed bricklayers and plasterers etc. In other words, he wanted to build more houses that we still don't/ will never need. In my opinion, stimulus packages create artificial demand, which, like too much credit, is a bad thing because it isn't sustainable. Don't get me wrong, I have pity for unemployed construction workers but putting them back to work doing the same thing again isn't going to solve anything.
We need to focus on creating companies that will export and that will create jobs. Governments cannot create jobs (well, they can but only by adding to our public sector!). But, back to the title of the thread, by having so many "local politicians", how do we move away from creating policies that only suit local needs?