From the mists of time...

0507

I'll bet there's been a thread on this before -- and if so, I'll welcome it being move by a moderator -- but has anyone actually searched out some of the old articles attacking those warning of the bubble? I'm finding it quite hilarious...

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/we-need-these-expert-scaremongers-1085679.html

But let's get one thing clear: David McWilliams can't be blamed. In plugging his book and making his simplifications and generalisations, he is -- like Richard Curran before him -- only giving RTE what it wants. The question is why does RTE want to run down our economy? It is precisely in order to protect it from the pressures of commercialism and sensationalism that RTE receives a licence fee.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/dismal-science-merchants-only-happy-when-were-poor-995238.html

The State-funded Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI) set the stalled ball rolling again last week when it regurgitated a hysterical rant from an academic who had the audacity to accuse those in the property business of "wishful thinking" because they remained optimistic about the future of house prices.

Professor Morgan Kelly, from the bloated campus of University College, Dublin (UCD), first jumped on the property bandwagon on December 21, 2006, with his paper, Irish House Prices: Gliding into the Abyss?When not too many people paid much attention to his thesis, the state 'think tank' reissued his gloom-laden forecast under the new guise of academic research. It came with complicated formulae, big words and long, hard-to-read paragraphs - but the same dismal conclusions.

That last one is my favourite. Because after the property bubble blew Collins started hailing Kelly as some sort of oracle:

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/just-who-is-morgan-kelly-2419341.html

Maybe in 100 years, another well-paid economist out in UCD will tell us what really happened in Ireland in 2010, but in the meantime us poor zombies will just have to heed Professor Kelly's exhortation and "rely on the kindness of strangers".

Anyone else found any howlers in this regard? I mean, it's pretty awful what happened after the bubble, but for some reason reading these sorts of articles is cathartic.

mike65

Marc Coleman wrote a whole book (and not in crayon) called The Best is yet to Come and one presumes he remains proud of his work, its linked at the bottom of that indo article but is now a 404 appropriately enough.

0507

Oh dear. Bad things afoot on the internet about Coleman's modern literary classic:

http://dublinopinion.com/2010/07/01/marc-colemanthe-best-is-yet-to-crumble/

Amazon reviewers aren't too kind either -- except Pat Kidney, he seems like a nice man!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Best-Is-Yet-Come/dp/1842181424

RichardAnd

mike65 wrote: »

Marc Coleman wrote a whole book (and not in crayon) called The Best is yet to Come and one presumes he remains proud of his work, its linked at the bottom of that indo article but is now a 404 appropriately enough.

I could be wrong but wasn't that book disingenuously titled? I thought it predicted the failing of the Irish economy or at least, of the Irish construction industry.

GSF

Coleman's obsession with the Brits blinded him to anything else.

Sand

GSF wrote: »

Coleman's obsession with the Brits blinded him to anything else.

That and his obsession with the Irish media, and "the liberal secular agenda". His radio show revolves around those three favourites: the brits, the meeja and the heathen secularists.

His economics analysis was always of the green jersey sort - roar on team Ireland, support your team regardless of facts.