Can anyone decode Patrick Honohan's, "some explicit re-programming", comment???

MrDarcy · 22-09-2010 04:29PM #1

Some explicit re-programming... That sounds dangerously close in my view, to maybe delicately suggesting in a roundabout kind of way, that we need to come out and say that we need to call in the unions and tell them that the Croke Park deal cannot be implemented and that further pay cuts are required.

I know we have public sector workers who are not by any standard well paid, there are those in the public sector who are on 30 or 40 something grand a year, possibly a comfortable income depending on your cost of living and whether you are on your own or living with a partner and obviously depending on their income and if you have kids, etc...

But "some explicit re-programming" obviously means something, and I'm just wondering what that actually means in laymans terms, when you decode it from the wooly vague language that people like Patrick Honohan use.

Personally I hope it means the Croke Park agreement is put into the bin and that Children's Allowance is means tested from now on. Before someone jumps down my throat on that one, Brian Cowen earns over 300K a year and his wife can claim Children's Allowance, that's insane, same goes for Michael O' Leary, total renumeration last year including sale of shares, was over 10 million Euro, yet his wife can claim children's allowance, absolute sheer focking madness in my view, any person, family or couple on over 100K for a start should have it taken off them in my view as a matter of urgency.

deise blue · 22-09-2010 04:51PM

Mr. Honhan's comments may echo David Begg's view that the country needs a longer time frame than 2014 to rectify matters !

Poly · 22-09-2010 05:04PM

MrDarcy wrote: »

But "some explicit re-programming" obviously means something,

Format C.

Are you sure you want to re-format the the Croke park deal? Y/N.

This is the only way out, everyone knows it.

ardmacha · 22-09-2010 05:20PM

Children's allowance is a good example. Apparently legal problems prevented it being restricted, yet two years in to this there has been plenty of time to address these problems. Similarly property taxes cannot happen because there is no database, yet nothing has been done to create one.

Public sector salaries have been reduced to 2004 levels, but the budgetary situation is not like 2004 as the tax take is not at 2004 levels, as much tax in that year came from stamp duty. These taxes need to be replaced.

Count Dooku · 22-09-2010 05:55PM

deise blue wrote: »

Mr. Honhan's comments may echo David Begg's view that the country needs a longer time frame than 2014 to rectify matters !

i.e. reform is not possible

Count Dooku · 22-09-2010 05:59PM

ardmacha wrote: »

Public sector salaries have been reduced to 2004 levels

but number of public servants didn't come down much and PS pensions increased significantly

The_Thing · 22-09-2010 11:05PM

Poly wrote: »

Format C.

Are you sure you want to re-format the the Croke park deal? Y/N.

This is the only way out, everyone knows it.

Go ahead and format all you like, we have our backup images of the Hard Drive stored securely offsite.

Liam Byrne · 22-09-2010 11:12PM

deise blue wrote: »

Mr. Honhan's comments may echo David Begg's view that the country needs a longer time frame than 2014 to rectify matters !

Considering the current shower of incompetents haven't even started to rectify anything yet, I'm not surprised.

We were better off September 2 years ago before the idiots signed our lives away.

Nijmegen · 23-09-2010 08:34AM

Honohan is in a good position, in that he's looking only at the economy and has free reign to pass comment. He does so in an intelligent manner.

What he's saying is that the recovery is not proceeding apace, and we need to either or both deepen the cuts and extend them beyond 2014.

Fact is, we're taking on so much serious debt that the cuts are struggling just to keep up with the gap between new interest payments, and it's hardly like inflation is going to deal with that pile in the next ten years.

Spudmonkey · 23-09-2010 08:44AM

MrDarcy wrote: »

But "some explicit re-programming" obviously means something, and I'm just wondering what that actually means in laymans terms, when you decode it from the wooly vague language that people like Patrick Honohan use.

Maybe he's saying that this whole croke park agreement is a sham (i.e calling it for what it is) and needs to be thrown out the window. ei.sdraob posted a great link to where cuts would most probably be made if you listened to the baying masses...

http://www.ronanlyons.com/2010/09/14/could-the-croke-park-deal-come-back-to-haunt-the-government/

In a nutshell:
1) wages/pensions are off limits due to the croke park agreement (easy to give but hard to take away)
2) welfare is off limits as it's a political minefield (easy to give but hard to take away)
3) capital/current expenditure is the prime target cause you aren't directly dipping into anyone's pocket

So much for the talk of creating jobs or developing infrastructure. Heck, even the guys repairing the road outside my house this morning may not even be given the full allocations of tar and chippings needed to do a proper job, but sure as long as their pay isn't touched! :rolleyes:

Can anyone decode Patrick Honohan's, "some explicit re-programming", comment???

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