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Child Item

Eddie Hobbs - Politically Biased?

Mr E

According to the news, FF are up in arms about Rip Off Republic, claiming that Eddie is politically biased, and that he is damaging the government...

Are they opening a big old can of worms that they shouldn't, or do they have a point?

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Chong

Hilarious I knew this would happen.

jrey1981

How can exposing tax takes and rip-offs be politically biased? It is factual...

Chong

He also hasn't really exposed anything we dont already know.

dahamsta

jrey1981 wrote:

How can exposing tax takes and rip-offs be politically biased?

It's probably not. It's probably an attempt by FF to smear him because they're simply unable to refute the allegations made against them. Nothing to see here, please move along...

adam

CCOVICH

Thought this was coming alright. To be fair, he did have a FG TD on the last show who lobbied against the cafe bar legislation.

If he is arguing that high taxes are the cause of 'rip offs' in this country, there is only one place (the government) to start pointing the finger I guess.

Jip

jrey1981 wrote:

....It is factual...

That's a stretch at the best of times. Sure, some of what he says is factual but he also neglects to tell people the rest of the facts that would make his stories less sensational.

FinoBlad

there is an element of truth in this, he does take the pi$$ out of the politicians and is far too personal in his attacks. it would be a lot better to have a balanced documentary and discussion with factually correct information and less pi$$ taking as this is a serious subject.

CJhaughey

FinoBlad wrote:

there is an element of truth in this, he does take the pi$$ out of the politicians and is far too personal in his attacks. it would be a lot better to have a balanced documentary and discussion with factually correct information and less pi$$ taking as this is a serious subject.

Yes a serious subject being treated in a flippant and arrogant manner by the politicians themselves, look at the café bar shambles. If the Govenment were serious about this they would have supported the idea of liberalising the market instead of treating the consumer like a piece of Sh1t yet again.
I say fcuk the Govt they reap what they sow and if a man like Eddie is brave enough to stand up and expose the rip offs then more power to him.
what did Mary Harney say when she was Minister? Shop around.
People wanted a person to stand up and point out to those who will not see what the problems are.

landser

I've more than a few problems with Mr. Hobbs. The guy is an old fashioned Thatcherite. I do find that i agree with some of what he says, but i do have problems with a number of issues. the guy is competition mad. competition is the golden cow of current capitalist thought. if a market isn't competitive, then it is failing. hobbs has signed up to this. i'm an ardent capitalist myself, but sometimes, competition doesn't work e.g. public transport.

he does not seem to see any social issues which attach to the econmic theories he espouses. take the groceries order. i am actually against this on balance, but only very slightly. to listen to hobbs go on about it, you'd swear that the whole issue was black and white. his arguments are very basic and he cajoles his audience to go along with him by using the old, "God, aren't they fierce thick for thinking that was a good idea". it's a type of emperor's new clothes type of debating, where the listener is afraid to disagree with what he sys for fear of being branded an idiot.

the show is a one sided rant by hobbs... simple as that. there is no debate, no insight and no analysis(unless you call kids playing shop an analysis of the working of a monolopy in a modern capitalst society).. merely hobbs giving his opinions unchallenged. the show is an insult to anyone with half a brain and an ability to think for themselves

CJhaughey

landser wrote:

the show is an insult to anyone with half a brain and an ability to think for themselves

Which is.....about 22% of the target audience in this fair isle.
The other 60% think it's great

landser

CJhaughey wrote:

Which is.....about 22% of the target audience in this fair isle.
The other 60% think it's great

judging by your maths ability, i reckon you fall into the "60%" then

damienom

Not sure about his being at all biased but I do think he's been watching a few too many Michael Moore documentaries.

Problem is with anything like this is that there's probably as many facts and figures that you could dig out to show him to be wrong as he's using to back up his arguments.

Over half a million viewers for a Monday night in the middle of silly season he mush be doing something right!

FinoBlad

CJhaughey wrote:

Eddie is brave enough to stand up and expose the rip offs then more power to him..

Listen. Eddie isnt doing this out of some soft of patriotism. Eddie is doing this coz he is paid, he knows he will sell more books and drive more business to his "independent" financial advisory service. As posted elsewhere on boards.ie he quoted a €3,000 appearence fee for talks on finance. Clever yes, brave mmmh?

In my humble opinion this show would be more worrying to politicians if it was conducted in a more serious and unbiased manner, where any research or quotes could be posted on RTEs website for all to see and check out.

Because its so childlike its really easy to dismiss.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

FinoBlad wrote:

Listen. Eddie isnt doing this out of some soft of patriotism. Eddie is doing this coz he is paid, he knows he will sell more books and drive more business to his "independent" financial advisory service. As posted elsewhere on boards.ie he quoted a €3,000 appearence fee for talks on finance. Clever yes, brave mmmh?

In my humble opinion this show would be more worrying to politicians if it was conducted in a more serious and unbiased manner, where any research or quotes could be posted on RTEs website for all to see and check out.

Because its so childlike its really easy to dismiss.

Yep, from a guy who boasts that he earns 10 times the average industrial wage.

Could be Thatcherite as landser suggests, or indeed Irish Socialist...hard to tell apart...

Eoin

CJhaughey wrote:

I say fcuk the Govt they reap what they sow

Gotta love the irony of that coming from someone with your nick

I totally agree with what landser, FinoBlad and others are saying about Eddie Hobbs. I just posted a thing about the grocery order on this thread. To save time, I will quote myself!

The average shopping basket that was 13 euros more expensive in Ireland than anywhere else in the E.U. included "every day items" like an electric tooth brush, a box of Ferero Roche (sp?) chocolates and a bottle of Bacardi. Take these out, and the shopping basket is less than 2 euros more expensive

Funnily enough, this was not mentioned or even alluded to by Hobbs. By continously massaging the facts to suit his arguments he loses a lot of credibility when the full details are looked into further. I think the reference to Michael Moore is quite apt - like Moore I can no longer take anything he says at face value.

SparkyLarks

My biggest problem with the Show how he never adresses the issue of costs.

He says a bottle of sun tan lotin is 5 times cheaper in South Africa.

How much profit is being made. Wages rent light heat all are more expensive in Ireland than South Africa.

Price is not the be all and end all of telling if something is a rip off. Things wer very cheap in the 80's. wouldn;t it be great if it weas like that now??

His "disproving" the shop around theory by sending 3 lads to different pubs to get a pind and seeing if they could haggle the price down. That misses the point. If everybody went to the cheaper pubs then the more expensive ones would have to drop their prices to be compeditive.

I enjoyed his other programs but Rip Off Republic is just tabloid sensatiolism

Viscosity

I hope Eddie Hobbs next series will focus on rip off financial consultants, mainly himself and Tony Taylor ! :rolleyes:

FinoBlad

SparkyLarks wrote:

I enjoyed his other programs but Rip Off Republic is just tabloid sensatiolism

Perfect quote, perfect.

swingking

I reckon that the government are suffering with a guilty conscience. How typical!

Maybe instead of lashing Eddie Hobbs, the government should start listening to the facts and stop slammming people who expose them

Sleepy

The fact is: most of the Irish population are idiots. Most of the population can be seen to be swayed by tabloid media: The Irish Sun has one of the highest circulation rates of any paper in this country, Sky One is probably the most popular TV Station, Heat & Now Magasines fly off the shelves.

The government need these idiots to get elected again. Eddie Hobbs appeals to these idiots by arguing in a fashion they understand. Therefore, he actually stands a chance of suceeding in forcing the government to finally start dealing with some of the rip-offs we face in this country (€ircon must be bricking it!) because without these idiots' votes the government will collapse.

So while yes, I would like to see a more intelligent analysis of the situation, more than likely the tabloid sensationalism is probably the more effective means of actually getting something done about it.

Dub13

The government are lucky this is going out 2 years before the next election otherwise this program could have swayed alot of voters.This will all be forgotten with the help of the SSIAs when they mature,just before the next election.

[Deleted User]

swingking wrote:

Maybe instead of lashing Eddie Hobbs, the government should start listening to the facts and stop slammming people who expose them

Can someone please clarify what exactly the Government has done to 'lash' or 'slam' Eddie Hobbs?

After all, would hate to think that it might be his own PR machine coming up with this stuff, although they have done very well. People love a victim story.

Tazz T

There was some government bloke (sorry I don't pay attention to the names of government 'officials') on the radio giving out about him yesterday.

His arguement was based on the assumption that Eddie had ignored the fact that pay has been rising faster than inflation - therefore rather than getting ripped off, we are in fact better off.

/ Personally, I have a feeling the wage increases have all been in the Dail, the ESB and the Vintners Federation - they certainly haven't been in my paypacket.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

landser

Sleepy wrote:

So while yes, I would like to see a more intelligent analysis of the situation, more than likely the tabloid sensationalism is probably the more effective means of actually getting something done about it.

but, a lot of waht he is saying is wrong because there is no analysis or debate. the show has a presumption that we are being ripped off and hobbs "proves" it by, for example, stating that some items are more expensive here than elsewhere. it's true that a meal out in dublin is more expensive than in Paris, but the average iriashman earns more than the average frenchman. the fact that a pint is cheaper here, wouldn't concern hobbs.

what the guy is doing is peddling misinformation, and ripping off RTE licence fee payers with this drivel. jesus, even i could present this show... it's the easiest money he'll ever earn

Dub13

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

This does my head in....good working people get an increase of 5.5% yet the government sanction the ESB,Board Gas,CIE, etc huge increases.If we are getting 5.5% the max semi state company's should get is 5.5%

Sarsfield

Dub13 wrote:

This does my head in....good working people get an increase of 5.5% yet the government sanction the ESB,Board Gas,CIE, etc huge increases.If we are getting 5.5% the max semi state company's should get is 5.5%

I work in CIE and I get the same national agreement increases as everyone else. What makes you think we get more?

Dub13

Sarsfield wrote:

I work in CIE and I get the same national agreement increases as everyone else. What makes you think we get more?

Sorry I did not make myself clear,I ment increases in the company's prices not what the workers get.I am aware they get the same as the rest of us.

[Deleted User]

Tazz T wrote:

There was some government bloke on the radio giving out about him yesterday.

So an official 'lashing' and 'slamming' by the powers that be has become 'some bloke giving out'?

Hmmmm. I echo the 'there's really nothing to see here, move along' point above, perhaps in a different context...