Is Ireland really a free economy

Proud Libertarian

One of the biggest myths out there is that Ireland is a free and open economy, and that it is capitalism that caused the collapse of the celtic tiger. But has anybody looked deeper into the situation? I have, and it becomes more and more evident that our rotten system of government is responsible for the collapse.

It is government intervention that is destroying the economy, in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened because nobody would have gambled away our future. What is wrong with this country and why do we blame the market for our troubles when its clearly government inteventionism thats the problem.

My name is URL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_World_Liberty_Index

edit: just realised that the above rankings are for 2006. I doubt we've dropped too far down the list since then though

liah

It is government intervention that is destroying the economy

Thank you for bringing this new and shocking and new (did I say new? new) discovery to our attention.

Latchy

If you always believed everything your goverment told you then you deserve to be lied to ,especially the loons who kept voting the same fcukers in again and again .

Einhard

Proud Libertarian wrote: »

It is government intervention that is destroying the economy, in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened because nobody would have gambled away our future. What is wrong with this country and why do we blame the market for our troubles when its clearly government inteventionism thats the problem.

No, proper government intervention, in the form of regulation, would have prevented much of the collapse in the first place. Once it all went belly up, foolish intervention compunded our woes.

Ironically, both too little and too much governmental intervention lie at the root of our current problems.

Athlone_Bhoy

Our government brought in the tax breaks etc for the building sector to boom. The system was always going to go down hill.

The problem was and is banks. Look at them giving a man a loan of nearly 70 million to build a shopping center and he had no experience whatsoever.

Now we have to get loans from banks to give to the banks! Seems like a crap system? No doubt this is no recession it's the world going down. Capitalism will fail, then and only then man will be what he was born to be free and independent.

Solair

All economies are regulated to some extent. The problem was that ours was incompetently regulated and in such a way that it was against the national interest!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Proud Libertarian wrote: »

One of the biggest myths out there is that Ireland is a free and open economy, and that it is capitalism that caused the collapse of the celtic tiger. But has anybody looked deeper into the situation? I have, and it becomes more and more evident that our rotten system of government is responsible for the collapse.

It is government intervention that is destroying the economy, in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened because nobody would have gambled away our future. What is wrong with this country and why do we blame the market for our troubles when its clearly government inteventionism thats the problem.

Like the way they oh-so-drastically intervened in the finiancial districts and stopped everyone with getting away with giving out massive loands?

I've seen your three posts so far, and my conclusion is that you're a banker (no, not a typo).

Sauve

This thread would probably be better in the econimic forum than in AH

Biggins

*yawn*

...Exits...

Cookie_Monster

its not truly free, there are plenty of sectors protected or encouraged through tax breaks or allowances or way to write off tax. But all in all its pretty free, as long as taxes exist a truly free economy cannot exist though.

Pauleta

It makes me feel good that we are the 2nd freest market in the world but i feel we need to strive to be number 1 and reject the evils of the far-left.

squod

Proud Libertarian wrote: »

, in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened because nobody would have gambled away our future.

Our future? Are you suggesting those people who borrowed money from banks to speculate on property or gamble on derivatives were all Irish citizens resident in the state? In a global market people will borrow money from anywhere they can at the cheapest possible rate.

smokedeels

I think a Libertarian party would get a lot of support in this country.

RichieC

My name is URL wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_World_Liberty_Index

edit: just realised that the above rankings are for 2006. I doubt we've dropped too far down the list since then though

The heritage foundation, a scummy right wing American thinktank even rated us one of the freest markets in the world...

strobe

Are there any laissez faire economies anywhere in the world? Have there ever been? Pretty sure they have only ever existed in theory. Has to be a reason for that, me thinks.

smk89

Sauvignon82 wrote: »

This thread would probably be better in the econimic forum than in AH

I wouldn't even insult the economists with this.

Liam Byrne

Proud Libertarian wrote: »

It is government intervention that is destroying the economy, in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened because nobody would have gambled away our future.

Forgive me for querying your proud libertarianism, but I think you have the timeline completely wrong, a la "who was John Connor's father the FIRST time round"

The banks "gambled away our future" and acted irresponsibly BEFORE the government intervention, and then went running looking for help, squealing like the rats they are that they "couldn't be allowed fail".

Rampant capitalism & greed is precisely what got us here. The government have made it worse by forcing us to foot the bill, but those who got their massive bonuses and payoffs and retired on massive pensions didn't care if their actions caused unsustainability, because they got their "reward" and got out.

RichieC

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Rampant capitalism & greed is precisely what got us here. The government have made it worse by forcing us to foot the bill, but those who got their massive bonuses and payoffs and retired on massive pensions didn't care if their actions caused unsustainability, because they got their "reward" and got out.

And the funniest part is they're probably all "proud libertarians" too... :rolleyes:

Mardy Bum

An open economy is one that relies heavily on exports and imports. I've never heard an economy described as 'free and open'. By free, do you mean little government intervention? Free is a ridiculous word to use to describe an economy.

It was a lack of regulation which caused the banking collapse.

Sonnenblumen

Proud Libertarian wrote: »

One of the biggest myths out there is that Ireland is a free and open economy, and that it is capitalism that caused the collapse of the celtic tiger. But has anybody looked deeper into the situation? I have, and it becomes more and more evident that our rotten system of government is responsible for the collapse.

It is government intervention that is destroying the economy, in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened because nobody would have gambled away our future. What is wrong with this country and why do we blame the market for our troubles when its clearly government inteventionism thats the problem.

Have you tried laxative?

starling.

Maybe 'in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened', but I can only imagine that things would be worse had there been no checks whatsoever on the banking and planning sectors. Government oversight is essential in such matters; it was unfortunate (well, disastrous) that our government failed to do so, or at most did so incompetently while blatantly ignoring the advice of their own administration.

It's important that the government intervene in the marketplace in order to protect minority interests and really the interests of the nation from corporate greed. A free and open marketplace benefits only the rich who use the 'liberty' for their own ends. The ordinary person always loses, as we can now see in Ireland as we pay back the billions of euro that the rich flippantly gambled away.

tolosenc

Tax is theft.

rossie1977

Proud Libertarian wrote: »

It is government intervention that is destroying the economy, in a free and open marketplace none of these blunders would have happened because nobody would have gambled away our future. What is wrong with this country and why do we blame the market for our troubles when its clearly government inteventionism thats the problem.

yes it was clearly government intervention that caused sean fitzpatrick and david drumm to commit the amount of fraud they did :rolleyes: it was because irelands banking system was too open that we are in the sh*t we are in now, like the wall street crash of 1929 it was LACK of proper government regulation that caused the mess not the other way round