Sorry, don’t have audio technology on workplace PC - can anyone give synoposis of Martin Wolf’s commentary…
Thanks.
For one thing he was impressed with how easily the Irish electorate have rolled over.
G’wan the Irish 
People were saying that Gavin Jennings was looking for sugar-coating - I didn’t get that sense from the interview.
Incidentally, the comments about the guarantee being a potentially catastrophic mistake were striking.
Impressed??
and not Astonished…Shocked…Appalled…Astounded…Incredulous ??
*Property Tax is a necessity.
*When prices eventually stabalise, the Property Tax should be levied on any increase in the value from that level.
*Based on what governments are doing, there will be another boom/bust. Years away.
*Irish Governmemt may have made a catastrophic mistake with the guarantee.
*The bubble here was rather shocking.
*Surprised that the government have been brave, but more surprised that the people have not rioted particularly as the gains of the ‘bubble’ were so unequally shared, and there was so much incompetence in the banks and government.
*The UK will have to travel a similar road but workers will strike.
Yep. Hes impressed with the “phlegmatic” approach to include the lack of strikes etc in Ireland given that the rich have screwed everybody else to a higher degree here than elsewhere.
He expects national strikes and civil unrest in Britain, even though the gains of the boom appear to have been spread more evenly in that country.
Paddy appears to be the model for lackeys everywhere
Take a bow all who support such an approach…
Yep… impressed since the gains were so unevenly distributed…
Impressed presumably by the bare face cheek of them rather than to do with the type of measures being introduced.
I don’t agree with the conclusion that the Irish are docile because they haven’t rioted.
I think we are slightly different to many other countries in that it was only 20+ years ago we were forced to do the same thing.
Hence, the population knows what must be done in order to get the show back on the road.
Importantly, even after the recent cuts and tax increases, our average incomes are still above many other EU (and USA) countries, thus making it easier to endure.
What a trio - can’t see, can’t hear, can’t utter a coherent sentence…
These people could be your neighbours!!!
Stay vigilant 
PS. thanks WGU, as usual I can’t hear the flippin’ RTE realplayer stream.
To be fair, though, and I’m not often, the catastrophic error is the reason why we are having as much austerity as we are. The choice was the banks or the economy. The banks were chosen. The main failure of the social partners, in my view, was that they rolled over with first HCL, then the guarantee, and then NAMA and the bank recapitalisations. That they are complicit in the boom and in the regulatory response to it is part of the reason for this, I think.
Average income means little especially when viewed in the terms that Wolf himself has alluded to ie that the rich here have benefitted to a much greater degree vis a vis the rest of society than in other bubblicious societies.
Given the average price of housing and essentials here are way above what they are elsewhere Im not so sure that that argument stands up.
As stated above, Irish people (including many vociferous Pinsters) should take a bow for demonstrating how first world people can engage lackeydom with a level of gusto (or should that be inertia) usually associated with the downtrodden peoples of Africa or South America.
Closer to Bogota than either Boston or Berlin
The population is not aware of the show being off the road in the first place.
The population,it may be argued is still,even now unaware of any show in the first place.
The population are mugs.End of.
The public gets what the public wants. 
Once there is enough money to get pissed at the weekend, nobody gives a flying fuck. The fighting Irish eh, just roll over and pay up to your masters.
Yeah - could have just given the link to the RealPlayer stream - but it doesn’t suit everyone, is a bit flaky and not very “Social Network” friendly.
I don’t think wolf is talking about a property tax, it sounds to me that he is talking about a land value tax
the government want a tax on people’s houses, ie everyone pays the same 
would it not be better to tax people on the amount of land they own, for example 1K per acre owned, given the size of the houses and the small piece of land they are built on most people would pay very little
but what would the landbankers pay ?
have a read of this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George
I think you’ll find ‘the public wants what the public gets’ is more apt.
Esp in view of the blanket media cheerleading.
Wolf - “The fiscal stringency that has been introduced has been very impressive.
In my own view the Irish govt has made what may turn out to be a catastrophically expensive mistake in essentially guaranteeing pretty well all the liabilities of the banking system.
That may prove, in fact, more expensive then the Irish economy can afford - I dont know whether that will be the case - we cant be sure yet.
Some of the figures I’ve seen suggest the prospects for the national debt, as a result of this, are very scary.
…adjustment of deficit…Irish response very impressive… on the other hand, the bubble that was permitted to emerge in Ireland, the more we read about it, and what happend during the boom period does seem to me, even by the British standards - and they were bad here - rather shocking.”
It was pretty much immediately clear the Irish economy couldn’t afford it and he’s only hedging because he knows it won’t be the Irish economy paying for it at the end of the day…