Should McCreevy Resign?

mike65

The revelations in the Sunday Turbine yesterday confirmed what many suspected. First, that the public finances were heading into the abyss before the elctions and, two that the Minister was dealing in teminological inexactitude, to borrow a phase. Should he be given the boot (pretending for a moment that Bertie would do such a thing) or made to fix things and remain really unpopular!

Mike.

sceptre

I've been saying for the past two years that McCreevy isn't driving the Irish economy - it's driving him. In other words, rather than acting in a manner that would actually influence the direction of the economy he's merely taking steps to try and influence Ireland's fiscal (NOT economic) performance as the issues arise. I think he's finally realised this (at least hopefully he has).

Because he's got little or no influence over our economic performance (IMHO) and hasn't really got much of a clue that he hasn't (IMHO) he falls under the classic definition of a fool.

Should he resign? At some stage yes. He hasn't done a bad job, he just hasn't done much of a job.

The trouble is that I don't see a stunning choice for his replacement anywhere in the Dail (on either side of the House).

The Sability and Growth Pact is simple enough in its application that a five year old could understand it (though my old Euro Law lecturer (who also has an economics degree) might disagree): When you're making money, save some of it, when you're not making money, spend the money you saved while you were making it. This results in a steady growth with fewer spurts and stalls. The problem with the EU is that they added a number of penalties, charges and growth charges into the mix. However no-one is paying much attentino to these (even though we're likely to be fined this year or next as a result of the government spending hikes).

In its purest form (purely as a principle) I agree firmly with the Pact - it coincides with a position on economics I've held for at least ten years for controlling an economy that is likely to have highs and lows. Sweden is the perfect example of a country that has applied this principle successfully over the past forty years. The downside of the Swedish economy, as any budding economists will point out, is that its place on the world GDP table has fallen over the past twenty years - its economy would actually be bigger if it had adopted the spurt and stall tactics of successive US Republican governments. However individually its people are richer, though the Swedish tax regime must take some of the credit for this. Here in Ireland we've chosen (or at least the government has) to ignore completely the idea (and ideals) behind such a principle (which remember we're legally bound by under Maastricht) in favour of whacking the economy around like a rubber ball.

Meanwhile, McCreevy seems to be messing about with Monetarist policies. Which don't work. Unfortunately it's treating the Irish economy in the same way that the US and UK economies were treated with around 1987.

Keep in mind I'm not a member of any party and also don't see anyone capable of replacing him properly. Plus these are my own ideas - not cut and pasted so argue over them if you feel like it.


So in short: yes. Damn fool doesn't know what he's doing. Never has, probably never will.