In a statement issued at the end of this Review yesterday, we were given the by-now familiar plaudits for achieving various benchmarks. Going forward, ‘strict implementation’ of this year’s budgetary targets is urged.
The gravity of the unemployment situation is acknowledged. ‘Swift action needed to deal with unemployment’ the newspaper headlines proclaimed. The onus for this is placed on the Irish government and a familiar list of policies proposed, including for example ‘the need for enhanced engagement with the unemployed and the opening up of competition in sheltered sectors like legal services’.
I wonder how much our readers think increased competition between lawyers will contribute to lowering our unemployment rate.
13 replies on “Successful Completion of Tenth Review of Troika Programme”
Beggars can’t be choosers. Except in one instance – we could choose to stop begging.
The troika have gone native–or they are suffering stockholm syndrome. The Irish politicians have prevailed-they are indefeatable.
War is peace–Freedom is slavery– Ignorance is strength.
@John
…and legal services closed shops are, er, legal services closed shops.
As you will see from this article, Ireland ranks 63rd in world rankings for the ease of enforcing contracts (an essential tool for any economy to function efficiently).
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/transparency-of-legal-costs-required-but-not-a-panacea-1.2038
The troika is correct in its attempts to loosen the stranglehold that the legal profession has on the level of its own fees and, indeed, in its general prescriptions with regard to what needs to be done. Foot-dragging by vested interests across all the so-called sheltered or non-traded sectors is the order of the day, especially in the public sector – including education – where a piecemeal and ill-thought out approach is set fair to cause near irreparable damage to career structures and morale in general.
In itself, legal services reform is not a big deal but how much of the €5.3bn identified by Bord Snip has been eliminated?
Besides, the current 333 points of light Action Plan for Jobs is not a strategy nor will a recovery bring rocket growth.
Providence Resources pays PwC to produce a report to enlighten civil servants and it projects 10,000 oil drilling jobs only if the Government…produces more goodies.
The IFSC would be grand but for pesky regulators… but if there was a more profound reason for banks leaving, would some want to know?
Then there’s the delusional flagship enterprise policy that commercialisation of university research could become a jobs engine….
Richard Bruton’s permanent publicity bandwagon moves along as he dispenses alluring bromides with little fear of challenge.
Meanwhile, the apprenticeship system is a shambles at a time of high youth unemployment.
“What crisis?”
As the Dickens character Micawber in ‘David Copperfield’ says: “something will turn up.”
@DOCM
Your devotion to and faith in
the partythe Troika, even in the treacherous and unhelpful face of all the evidence, is exemplary.However I myself question whether the Troika have gone far enough, the failure of the Irish economy to “rebalance” as their simple and beautifully austere models predict suggests very strongly that the Irish economy needs to be made simpler and more austere to match the model better.
Aside: “The rise of enforced right-technocratism: The first effective pan European political movement.” would make an excellent masters thesis.
“The rise of enforced right-technocratism”
Simple solution – stop taking their charity – then you can carry on doing whatever you fancy. Double the dole, raise the salaries of university Professors, pay whatever you like to the legal eagles. All in funny money of course.
@Johnny Foreigner
God yes, imagine how awful it would be to stuck with funny “local” money like the Swedes, Danes or Poles. Simply awful. I remember being paid in Punts – no one would accept them (there was a barter economy) and skiing holidays were simply unaffordable.
The right are barking mad, utterly self confident and in full control, it seems that the Eurozone’s intention to recreate the rise of fascism in the thirties with the enemy being inflation instead of the Bolshevik threat. The Troika’s pathetic plan to reinvigorate demand through cheaper litigation is just one more sign of how detached from reality they are.
Aside: This old Vox paper from a Danish wingnut welfare recipient is worth a read:
http://www.voxeu.org/article/ecb-fully-political-player
One really gets a sense of the barely suppressed joy of European neoliberals in having undermined national sovereignty (and democracy) through institutional means. The public were not too keen on the market state but a vast right wing conspiracy found a way.
@DOCM
Ireland ranks 63rd in world rankings for the ease of enforcing contracts (an essential tool for any economy to function efficiently)
Foot-dragging by vested interests across all the so-called sheltered or non-traded sectors is the order of the day, especially in the public sector – including education – where a piecemeal and ill-thought out approach is set fair to cause near irreparable damage
I seem to remember that one of the main attempts to get me to “stop dragging my feet” was a ham-fisted attempt to revise my contract without my consent. Needless to say (a defender of the sanctity of contracts like yourself will be delighted to learn), I insisted that my original contract be honoured, the innovations of the Croke Park agreement notwithstanding…
I think the unemployment issue is the main one that highlights how unfit for purpose the current monetary system is. We have work to be done, people willing to work but we lack a medium of exchange to bring it all together.
Having guards sitting at home beside empty stations amid rising crime rates is another good example. I guess rising crime rates may lead to a need for more lawyers though! But an increase in any economic activity will require an increase in the money supply if we’re to maintain price/wage stability. And yet an increase in the money supply can only come from an even higher increase in personal/business or government debt! The troika have a tough job resolving the debt crisis under this system.
The Troika not only believe in growth effects of structural “reforms” like these, they believe that they deliver growth effects quickly enough to offset the effects of austerity.
Where’s the evidence that restoring full employment depends on the reforms so dear to the heart of the IMF?
The Irish labour market delivered 4% unemployment before ever the song of the Troika was heard in the land.
The Corporations including IMF, will propose a solution to the EU country with the largest amount of seabed to land ratio and probably the largest absolute seabed. Certainly per capita, because that country has been raped for centuries.
They will point out that there may be oil and gas available, but only if they exert their ingenuity and capital to recover it. So that country must be generous to them, else they may go to Norway….
National debt and some unemployment problems, solved! The banks that back these corporations will be generous …. It is not stealing if it is legal. Governments are bought and sold everyday!
There will never be a solution until there is RESPECT FOR THE RULE OF LAW!