Book recommendations thread

very interesting website about how the EU Message is spread

The Bruges Group - Federalist Thought Control: The Brussels Propaganda Machine

I thought you might be interested in a march I went on in Ennis last Saturday, protesting about the bondholder bailouts! Fair play to these protestors from Ballyhea who have been out marching every Sunday since Feb 2011 - last Saturday they decided to spead their wings to Donegal, calling at Ennis, Galway, Castlebar & Sligo on the way!:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ballyhea-bondholder-bailout-protest/162154057174719

Hi there, I'm conducting a survey that you can find here to know more about what Irish people think about the current situation of their country. I'm not from Ireland, but I'm studying in Dublin and that's part of an essay that I have to write for my university. I will be very thankful if you can give the survey 10 minutes to fill it. I also accept comments and suggestions, of course.

Thank you a lot

Don't worry about that, it is not necessary. Thanks a lot

I wasn't sure whether putting it there. Maybe I should have put it in the religion part or somewhere else. Thanks for pointing it anyway.

^ While let's face it, an online petition never achieves anything directly, it's going to help raising awareness so it's still a good thing. Myself, I prefer to share this photo around, I feel it gets the message across far more efficiently:

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

Sad attempts to intimidate and cause friction won't work on us I'm afraid.

But what would you expect from Extremist Socialists anyway..?

The irony, it burns.

Any figures available around the amount of rental property owned by Garda over the last 20 years or so?

Probably low enough for entrants to the profession from 2005 onwards.
However, there would appear to be a significant (subjective) amount of units held by gardai as investment properties.

I'm conducting some research for a thesis around same and would like to get some hard numbers but its a challenge.

Anecdotally, from speaking to residents in a local estate, of 40% of residents who spoke to me, 60% had landlords who were gardai (is that extraordinary?)

I managed to speak to a number of Gardai in my local station (I have a good relationship with them and would socialise with several, there are over 50 in the station). Spoke to 15. Out of that (all legacy hires, pre 2005, in fact most were early 90's hires), 9 had investment properties rented out in the local area. 6 had more than one property. 4 had more than 5.

All claimed times were tough and remarked that their take home pay has reduced, but anyone with a pre 2000 property has agreed that their investments have performed and are paying for themselves with some profit.

One Garda I spoke to has a portfolio of 16 properties in the local area (all purchased pre 2000), 2 in Spain (invested with family) and some (he wouldn't clarify) in eastern Europe.

4 Gardai reckoned they were living pin to collar, after paying rent and bills they were left with nothing.

Interested in your input. There appears to be a 3 tier society. One wonders when the AGSI states that their members are left with only a few bob after bills does it include the few mortgages?

Certainly dont want to troll and would love any assistance in getting hard facts as I have reams of interview notes and anecdotal information.

Thanks in advance

I have no data to give you, but your post/thread is interesting, as I had never heard of the phenomenon of the 'Garda landlord' and your figures surprise me.

I guess that during the Tiger years many people got caught up in buying additional properties to rent out, and its maybe understandable that many Guards would have decided to get on to this, plus the fact that they would have been attractive to the banks to loan money to i.e. they had a safe, well paying public service job. By this reckoning I would guess that there are probably as many 'teacher landlords' as Gardai ones?

As for the whole thing about some of them struggling, we that's a whole different argument that will divide opinion wildly. You would often hear people on Joe Duffy's Liveline complaining about not being able to pay their mortgages on their 4 rental properties, despite the fact that they are taxi drivers and have overall mortgage debt of €700,000!! Many will say "well thats a risk they decided to take". I suppose few will have any sympathy for any Guards who took the risk of being professional landlords and now it has backfired on them. But as I say, a different thread.

Wish you good luck with your thesis.

I'm sure that Guards are also seen as the 'protected public sector workers' that many moan about. The radio shows and forums are full of public sector bashing. Many assume if you are a Guard or a teacher then you are loaded. But if you have become a landlord and have 4 properties in massive negative equity then you are probably under intense pressure than many of the public would not see. Add to this, as you hint at possible reduced salaries and job losses due to their reduced budget, and the future probably looks bleak for many Gardai.

Thanks Shield.
Appreciate the recommendation, but think I can get some good feedback here as I appreciate that its an emotive subject, but the audience here will give a candid and overall realistic perspective.
I also want to get the real view and input of the broader population and this a a great forum for same.
However if I am breaking rules please let me know and I will revert to wherever you advise in this forum as I'm purely trying to garner input and don't want to piss anyone off on the way.

NIMAN, Thats the view that I want to explore. The view that the normal Joe Soap PS worker is loaded....is that true? is it really widely held? and if so, why?
Does the local Garda or Teacher struggle with the bills? or do they struggle with the bills for the house in Carrick and the one in Costa Brava?

Again, talking about those in the job > 10 years. The new entrants have been hit with a torrent (rising costs, reduced pay etc)..Unions have apparently said screw the newbies, we'll buy them in later with promises of utopia...thats another conversation and will be part of my study, but not core.

Again, this is not a Garda or PS hunt, just a data hunt and I appreciate any input you may have be it hard or soft that I can follow up.

Thanks

I think there is a lot of data bandied around the media these days to make headlines and which you would need to be careful with when making judgements, and I am sure you will consider this when looking at the data you get for your thesis.

A recent example we have been told is the Credit Union survey that 1.6 million people have less than €50 to spend when the bills are paid? These surveys make good headlines but there was a thread about it on this site, and as many point out, there is no quantifying what 'the bills' are. For some the bills will be the bare essentials such as food, housing, lighting, heating. For others the bills may also be the satellite TV, the broadband, the 3 mobile phone contracts, and for the other extreme the bills may be the 2 mortgages, the 2 cars, the holiday home in Bulgaria, the interest on the 4 max'd out credit cards etc etc. You get what I'm hinting at. Headlines don't always tell the full story. The one thing I have learned from this recession is not to look at someone in a good paying job and think they are comfortable financially. The person earning €150k may have less disposable income than the one earning €50k, depending on their debts and commitments.

But would be interested to read of your findings, please keep us updated.

Moved to the petitions, surveys etc. thread as we don't allow specific threads on these.

Fancied reading a good book on politics / sociology so popped up to Eason's to have a nose around. I'm normally a little right of centre in terms of my political outlook but I'm always open to new ideas and am particularly drawn to books which are based on research rather than opinion. Was torn between The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz or The Spirt Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.

Went with Stiglitz because of his Nobel Prize and a slightly higher rating on Amazon. Hope I made the right choice!

Anyone read it? Anyone recommend similar books (even if of the opposite viewpoint)?

Blowfish wrote: »

marxists.org has a pretty large library. A couple of the seminal works would be Marx's Communist Manifesto and his three volume Das Kapital.

Of course, If you want to see it from another angle, Von Mises does an excellent job of demolishing a lot of the collectivist arguments in Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis.

marxist.org.Amazed that Marx has any followers.Famine Ukraine,Famine in China,Famine and despotic rule in North Korea.At least 30 million dead.No holocaust memorial for these victims.

have to recommend language resistance and revival by Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh. It is a brilliant account of the use of language as a form of resistance by prisoners in the north.It also contains a good analysis of cultural imperialism.

Well with the local Elections coming up, the easiest solution is not to vote for the current mayor.

JP 1800 wrote: »

Well with the local Elections coming up, the easiest solution is not to vote for the current mayor.

Mayors are not directly elected.