BaFFled by the BluFFer spin?

Today’s Irish Independent gives over 2 pages to an attack on Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore TD. Unusual that, today they could have led with 320 jobs set to go at IBM and Boston Scientific or indeed they could have covered the rally in Waterford in support of the Glass factory or the crystal workers sit in at Deloitte’s Dublin offices. However, such news mightn’t go down well at Castlemartin.
No, the “Indo” attacked Eamon Gilmore because in their words he refuses to outline proposals to cut €2B from public spending while attacking the government. Think about that for a moment, this government told us in July “re-adjustments” would be sufficient to keep spending in line with the 08 budget. They did a U turn and brought forward Budget ’09 to October then did a U-turn on their plans. In December they set out their vision in a revised economic plan. In January they still were off course so they announced a series of cuts that will in all likelihood fail to turn public finances around.
So the 2 page tirade obviously begs the question if the government with their civil servants have failed in 4 attempts to tackle the problem, why tackle Labour about the alternative given that the party leader isn’t being briefed on day to day developments? Fine Gael have effectively shadowed Fianna Fail in their wish to protect banks and speculators and called for a pay freeze in the public sector. Indeed one wonders how far you’d call Fine Gael’s view as an alternative, cutting Dublin Bus, ending decentralisation and letting 5K staff go.
So fair enough what would Labour do? Here’s a few things for starters; stop the haemorrhaging of construction jobs by building schools and insulating homes. Save €1B by scrapping the Harney plan for private hospitals on public land. Introducing new taxes to target the wealthy who spend much of their time outside away from their stately Irish homes (like Castlemartin?). Abolish interest relief for landlords on rental properties and save €80M, Introduce an Earn or Learn scheme to retrain our workforce for the new jobs in the new economy we’ll build. Re-engineer the Anglo Irish as a vehicle to draw down cash from the European Investment Bank designed for small business. There’s lots can be done to get the economy right and re-boot public finances as a result. You don’t need the speculators from the Galway Tent for everything. A small temporary cut in VAT would restore consumer confidence.
A recent poll showed that not even a majority of Fianna Fail or green voters think that this government can turn things around. Today’s article comes from the same stable that ran the infamous “Its Pay Back Time” against Labour in 1997. Pay back is on its way back but this time it’ll be Fianna Fail who’ll be getting it in spades, especially from building workers. This reality is beginning to sink in Middle Abbey St.
But surely those who live in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones. Independent Newspapers' share price has slumped, last month it's owner was insisting his investment in Waterford Wedgewoood would suceed. Who's bluffing now?

Wexford’s economic slide accelerates as FF/Greens do nothing

News over the week-end that unemployment in Co Wexford now exceeds 11,000 is something that I’m not hugely surprised at. Put it like this, a county with just 3% of the Republic’s population is over represented in it’s unemployment figures by about 33%. What is galling about the lack of government response is that FF blame international factors and the greens still want us to believe that they’re in opposition still. Nobody wants to take responsibility for the problem and certainly our present minister who is now being mentioned in the same breadth as Sarah Pallin has no idea how to go about dealing with it. There hasn’t been a word form either party in Wexford in relation to our economic problems. I smile when I read commentators say Labour is offering no alternative to the economic collapse, the fact is that the government who should have a response has no response at all.

One sector of unemployment that is mostly ignored is youth unemployment. In Wexford district this has gone up from 700 in May 2008 to 918 this October. The increase of 31% has gone unnoticed. Unemployment increases have been mostly attributed to the collapse in the building industry. This is partly true but doesn’t tell the whole picture as retail and manufacturing (what’s left of it) go into a tailspin. Lay offs and short time are features of the motor trade locally as a petrol station closed last week, Dunnes Stores has closed on Wexford’s Main St. Toymaster and Furniture Depot shut their doors too. The wider construction business has also suffered, architects, engineers, builders suppliers, solicitors, auctioneers, and building material have all felt the cold wind of recession. Empty units like the one's shown are easily found in Wexford.

Mostly young people who never experienced a recession before are now finding that a bust does follow a boom. The over reliance on multinationals, tax breaks and the property sector has undermined our small business sector. Manufacturing continues to flatline. Where is the policy to support innovation, R&D and new ideas? Any tax breaks that went in the budget were to the corporate sector. FAS has an enormous budget but as yet they have yet to make inroads on the numbers of young on the dole. To make matters worse, numbers qualifying for the Back to Education Allowance have been reduced in the budget. So, no extra money for education, no initiative to expand Community Employment Schemes and FAS out of the picture. Is the government falling back on emigration to sort out the problem of youth unemployment as they did in the 50’s?