A global recession is on the horizon - please read OP for mod warning

…like anything with debt, it depends what its being used for, if its being used to increase the productive capacity of your economy, creating jobs etc, tis all good, but if its only truly being used to (re)inflate the value of assets such as property, you re probably fcuked, as theres nothing truly backing the debt, you d keep having asset bubbles and busts, rising inequality and rising social unrest…..

…or maybe it suits a government who at the heart of its economic ideology is to have limited state involvement in meeting citizens needs, preferring more market based approaches in doing so, believing its a far more efficient approach, but actually having little or no evidence to support its beliefs….

It's the under investment in things like electricity grid, water system, housing, transport that will ultimately doom the Irish economy. FFG have no credible plan to keep the US MNC party going.

Throwing energy credits and tax breaks to those who don't need it or justify it is awful government policy and fiscally irresponsible.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland have made up a "National VAT 9 Day" calling for a reduction in the VAT rate for the hospitality industry and are blaming the 13.5% VAT rate for any closures of restaurants or cafes recently, instead of acknowledging that maybe there isn't enough demand for their offering and the market is calling the shots.

And every newspaper and journalist seems to be supporting their narrative, which will cost around €750m to the state to implement.

I don't quite understand where the hospitality associations are coming from that they need 9% VAT to survive. It's been shown time and time again that the reduced VAT rates in dining and hospitality do not benefit the consumer.

A 9% VAT rate would be nice for my small business if only to reduce how much I've to keep aside for revenue in my busy months. But it's 23% .. as it is for 1000's of business up and down the country and we just get on with it.

Of all business costs to hone in on, VAT is just a strange one. Let them argue for reduced rates, energy grants, late night opening supports, changes to allow easier casual employment... things like that. But VAT? I don't get it

It's FFG govts that have overseen and developed the MNC investment and jobs.

FF were the party that dropped our CT rates to 12.5% and triggered the inflow of well paid, high volume jobs, plus the huge tax take we now recieve and have enjoyed for years.

9 out of every 10 euro paid to the govt in corporation tax is from MNCs.

There are a lot of areas the govt could do better in, but tbf, high value job creation over the past few decades is not one of them.

…jesus how disconnected are these conservatives, they dont even realise they have a lot of what they truly believe in, i.e. far greater protectionism including state protectionism for wealth, and the accumulation of wealth, significantly low taxes for this accumulation of wealth, including and in particular related to property and land, as this is one of the main methods of accumulating wealth. further public policies in continuing and maintaining this dynamic, including from major institutions such as central banks, with polices such as qe, which was clearly designed to simply re-inflate the value of assets, which are primarily owned by wealth….

…so what you really wanna do is to maintain a much lower standard of living for lower classes….

…noting, not providing these classes with a better standard of living significantly increases the likelihood of dysfunctional outcomes some seriously so including, increasing likelihood of serious long term health issues, both physically and mentally, which of course in turn increases pressures in all aspects of our health system, both in the public and private domain….

…which in turn increases the likelihood of long term unemployment….

….which in turn increases the likelihood of criminal outcomes….

….which of course the taxpayer ultimately pays for…..

…by not providing higher rated housing, this clearly exposes us all to the negative environmental impacts from so…

…and its easy to provide all your needs on minimum wage, especially housing and health care needs etc….

..noting most long term unemployed actually struggle with long term physical and mental health issues, which is ultimately is why they are in their situations, but fail to receive adequate health care….

…noting, cutting off welfare doesnt actually help to resolve such issues, but significantly increases the likelihood of criminal outcomes, and other serious dysfunctions, which again, ends up all being paid for by your friendly taxpayer…..

…noting, many long term unemployed actually struggle with significant social anxieties, including complex psychological disorders such as asd, but in fact are completely unaware of their issues, therefore have never received suitable supports…..

…again, you are completely wrong, our current ffg government are clearly center to center right, for the reasons outlined, but yes they do have some what would have been traditional left policies in place, but the bulk are more to the right, you ve no idea what you re talking about…..

In the us to be in the top 10 percentile of tax payers one has to earn $168K that’s double of here

Here a married couple who is a teacher and gardai who can’t afford even the cheapest hovel (nor qualify for a mortgage) in Dublin be easily in top 10 percentile of taxpayers

I always find the various debates around child benefit interesting.

Just to put the curr byent rate in perspective and talk of an increase next year below are the figures for 2008.

Child Benefit rates increase by €6 for the first two children and €8 for the third and subsequent children. Rate for first two children will be €166 per month (each) and rate for third and subsequent children is €203 per month (each) (April 2008).

In 2008/09 a family with 3 children were paid €6,420 in child benefit in 2024 the payment is €5,040.

We had some hangover from the Celtic Tiger.