Is anyone else embarrassed by Mary Coughlan?

Time Magazine

From The Irish Times

Tánaiste on US trade mission

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, is in Washington today for trade talks with the Obama administration.

Ms Coughlin will also hold talks with members of the Senate and House of Representatives following a week-long trade and investment mission on the US West Coast.

She will meet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke; Labour Secretary Hilda Solis, Trade Representative Ambassador Ronald Kirk, and Deputy National Security Adviser, Michael Froman on the two-day trip.

The visit will address America’s international tax policy, US plans for economic stimulus, immigration reform and labour market issues.

Ms Coughlin will also address a breakfast hosted by the US Council on Competitiveness and host a dinner for Enterprise Ireland client companies at the Irish Ambassador’s Residence. She will return to Ireland overnight on Tuesday.

Let's overlook The Times' mis-spelling her surname. The point is she is addressing the US Council on Competitiveness. She is representing Ireland in an official capacity at this. The same Mary Coughlan as (from RTÉ):

Price controls could be re-introduced

The Tánaiste has said the Government could re-introduce price controls if retailers refuse to pass on the sterling differential to consumers.

Speaking on RTE's 'The Week in Politics' programme, Mary Coughlan said this would not be her preferred option but the Government will bring forward legislation if retailers do not cut their prices.

In the last year sterling has weakened against the euro but in many cases shoppers have not seen this translate into lower prices for imported British goods.

The Minister said that wholesalers have a role to play and she will meet them shortly.

WTF are we doing sending a woman who threatens price controls as a representative to competitiveness councils? Does she not realise that the threat of a price controlling government is not exactly endearing to potential investors?

If an Tánaiste is unhappy with the competitiveness of the retailing sector, why doesn't she act on the recommendation of our own Competition Authority (PDF, 3.2mb) which found that our overly-restrictive and bureaucratic laws are the biggest obstacle to lower retail pricing?

I think our government has done a terrible job at managing the nation's finances, and I have been saying this since well before the last General Election. I can see that Brian Cowen isn't performing a hard job terribly well, but at least I can see he's a competent politician and a decent statesman.

Mary Coughlan, on the other hand, is an embarrassment.

galwayrush

At this stage, i find myself laughing at her.:rolleyes:

bmaxi

I think the title of the thread should read " Is any one not embarrassed by Mary Coughlan?"
On second thoughts no, you probably wouldn't get any response

Mr.Micro

Biffo is obviously not expecting much then from the talks, which is why Coughlan went, because that is what he will get, nothing much, still she can always do a bit of shopping.

ejmaztec

She should be The Minister for Cringe and the Americans will think that they're accidentally sitting in on a rank-amateur Comedy Club audition.:o

tinkerbell

I'm actually embarrassed by our entire government at the moment, they're making a mockery of the nation. So many other countries are trying to get spending going again and the like (e.g. the UK cutting VAT) but hell to the no, our government decides to raise all our taxes so nobody will spend and we'll never get out of this bloody recession!

asdasd

We were in a worse position, and we are not going to spend our way out of any recession. We are not big enough. To be as rich as we were we need to export ourselves out of this recession.

I dont find Coughlin all that bad.

P. Breathnach

tinkerbell wrote: »

I'm actually embarrassed by our entire government at the moment, they're making a mockery of the nation. So many other countries are trying to get spending going again and the like (e.g. the UK cutting VAT) but hell to the no, our government decides to raise all our taxes so nobody will spend and we'll never get out of this bloody recession!

So how would you solve our exchequer problem?

We are very highly dependent on spending in other economies (our exports), and not so dependent on our own domestic market -- except for property, and you see where excessive spending in that sector got us.

silverharp

tinkerbell wrote: »

I'm actually embarrassed by our entire government at the moment, they're making a mockery of the nation. So many other countries are trying to get spending going again and the like (e.g. the UK cutting VAT) but hell to the no, our government decides to raise all our taxes so nobody will spend and we'll never get out of this bloody recession!

Dont fall for that nonsense about stimulus , have a look at the hole the "spending" part of the economy has gotten itself into. The reason the gov should not raise taxes is to let people pay back their debts


Table C8: Quarterly Breakdown of Outstanding Residential Mortgage Lending (Item 15.1) 1
http://www.centralbank.ie/frame_main.asp?pg=pub_quar.asp&nv=pub_nav.asp

Time Magazine

Have any other governments touted retail price controls while simultaneously insisting on retaining legislation that bans discounters (Lidl, Aldi, WalMart...) from opening stores that are "too big"?

Bob Z

but wouldnt price controls be a good thing? After all how many threads is there on here about rip off ireland?

silverharp

Bob Z wrote: »

but wouldnt price controls be a good thing? After all how many threads is there on here about rip off ireland?

its normally a cop out to excuse gov. policy failures in other areas.

Économiste Monétaire

Price controls are an attempt to cover up the symptoms of larger, structural issues.

dresden8

Is anyone else embarrassed by Mary Coughlan?

I'm more embarressed by the people who vote for her, and by the people who vote for those who are even worse than her.