Austertiy seems to be the word of the moment with today's acceptance by the Irish government of a financial bail out package from the Eureopean Union and International Monetary Fund. If it is to meet the lending requirements, Britain's closest neighbour is going to have to seriously tighten its belt and introduce massive austertiy measures. Without the loan, the nation could go bankcrupt.
The British Conservative-Liberal coalition government has been rolling out a long and agonising series of so-called austerity measures over the past few weeks with a focus on reducing public services. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne has been justifying what amounts to a savage attack on welfare, health and education, by saying this is the only way to avoid the fate of Ireland. Ironically, in spite of its apparent urgent need to reduce its deficit, Britain has pledged around seven billion euros towards the rescue fund, arguing that it is in the 'national interest' to save Ireland's economy given its impoortance as a significant trading partner.
Many governments are introducing austerity measures as they struggle to recover from the financial collapse of the past two years, triggered by the irresponsible lending practices of the banks. As the general public begin to feel the pain of what will inevitably appear to be draconian cuts, they will increasingly wonder why banks profits are on the rise once again. Inevitably it will be the financially needy who will suffer during this times, and not the well-paid banking executives who steered the capitalist world into this road wreck in the first place.
We've yet to see the details of the Irish government's austerity budget, but there can be little doubt that it will adversly impact on services to the most needy. The more butcheryof public services that I am following in Britian, the more I beleive that this provides a perfect excuse for the Conservatives to do what they have historically done best, which is to reward the rich and punish the poor. Or am I just a socialisit cynic?
I have long beleived that economics is similar to the weather. In spite of an over-abundance of highly qualified economists, no one ever seems to predict the bad times. In my adult life, I have witnessed no less of three cyles of boom and bust. It seems to me that when the sun is shining the rich get richer, and when the cloud cover comes, the poor get poorer.
Grandpa Jonathan
Prague, Czech Republic
