FF/FG/Green Government - Part 3 - Threadbanned User List in OP

And before anyone says the usual "but but Sinn Fein" - I'm not arguing in favour of SF. I'm simply frustrated that no party exists to represent the net contributing tax payer (though there's very few in that cohort as we take so many people out of the tax net etc etc)

And for anyone tempted to cry "but other countries...." - how many of them had the government/minister for finance openly say in 2014 or so that he wanted prices to rise? I never link to rags like the Indo so Google "Michael Noonan wants property prices to rise" and you'll see many articles from that time. Of course we also had CGT exemptions for buy to lets (extended even when it was obvious the impact it was having on prices), help to buy, refusal to let property taxes increase with values etc etc. This is deliberate government policy - anyone who says otherwise is either stupid or lying

And for what it's worth - I am a property owner so not "exposed" to high rents. It's still however yet another reason I won't vote for any of the government parties

I feel and have sympathy for your position. I am somewhat in agreement on principle, yet have you seen the opposition? For all the government have spent, they want them to spend more and more....

I don't disagree re. the opposition - but nothing will change if people keep voting for parties that won't change anything. Best case scenario an actual economically right of centre/somewhat fiscally conservative party emerges to counter the current race to be most left. Worst case someone else picks my pockets for a change

I prefer to "punish" at the voting booth those parties that have f*cked up first, before I start punishing those I think will f*k up. I've only one vote - all I can do is tell politicians who knock why I'm not voting for their party and what they need to do to have me consider them

Politics is quite simple. income tax rates (for the few of us that pay them) are outrageous. If enough people told politicians they don't vote for parties that levy them they'd soon reduce. I can't control what others do - only me

You live in one of the richest countries in the world, with one of the happiest populations in the world, that figures in the top10/15 of every happiness index, of every lifestyle index, yet you seem to think that a different government could not make things worse? There are an awful lot of things that could get far worse in this country if we got the wrong government, an awful lot.

Yeah but if a lot of people in your position vote SF as a way of 'punishing' FF and FG for not pursuing the fiscal policies you favour, I don't see how that is conveying the desired message to those parties. Seems to me they are much more likely to interpret that shift as a desire for even more left wing policies on the part of the electorate.

you tell them in no uncertain terms on the doorstep (or any other interaction) why you won't countenance voting for them and what needs to happen for you to ever reconsider. Polls are indicating a lot of people are voting for other parties than FF/FG simply because they're not FF/FG. SF is benefiting by default as a lot of people are fed up

If enough people do this things might change, if not nothing will. If (as some people I know) complain about certain policies (e.g. marginal income tax rates) yet vote for parties that implement them then it's pointless. Stop complaining about what you voted for

I'm only one person, not a whole ton I can do but at least when one of the "mainstream" politicians knocks I can say "sorry I don't vote for parties that tax at marginal rates of 50% and over/steal from my pension/prioritise welfare recipients over workers/transfer as much wealth as possible from other cohorts to the wealthiest (over 65s), etc etc".

As I've repeatedly said - if you work and pay tax you have absolutely nobody to vote for in this country. Unless people who want that cohort represented actually do something nothing can or will change

Spot on 100%. There are times when the government are doing the right thing and playing a blinder. They must be lauded for this but this does not make up for the things that they do wrong.

Well in this governments case the housing crisis, cronyism and the health crisis for example can't be easily fixed by the right that they do which is not much.

The housing crisis has been here over 10 years as has the health crisis. As for public finances

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0222/1282354-national-debt-report/

Kind of a chicken/egg scenario here, but unless and until people like you have a creible alternative to put to those FF/FG canvassers, as in "I'm going to vote for Renua/Libertas/whoever; they will cut my taxes" I don't believe they will take you seriously. IMO they will go away from your doorstep still thinking to themselves "When push comes to shove in the ballot box he's still going to tick FF or FG as (from his POV) the least bad of a terrible lot. Or he won't vote, which we can live with."

I see the name of that factory in "Meath" that's in a spot of bother with Immigration and SW officials has leaked, so to speak, apparently production has slowed somewhat over the past few days 😏