Profiteering

The public sector union leaders have called an all-out strike for Tuesday when data shows that in the year up to quarter 2 2009 private wages (which are already much lower than public) fell over 6% while public wages grew over 3%. All the data is here. The unions are profiteering, massively, on the back of misery.

Could these people be any more irresponsible and greedy? And nevermind those whose wages fell 100% to 0, namely the growing unemployed. Sure they don’t even count.

Just the facts, let’s see them argue with that. I suppose when you’re dealing with a weak ass and pathetic government you’ll try anything, but the union leaders would do well to remember who is paying for all this largesse.

Taxes killing jobs

Trinity College Economist Constantin Gurdgiev has a scoop that major international companies have told the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment that personal taxes are too high for them to invest in Ireland,

“my source close to DETE has informed me last week that in September-October this year three large multinational companies currently not present in Ireland have told our international investment development agency that they have no interest in locating in Ireland. These statements came after several months of negotiations to attract these companies into Ireland. Significantly, all three indicated that the upper marginal tax rate in Ireland, which inclusive of levies and charges rises to a whooping 56% of individual income was the main reason for them not to locate their European headquarters here, as they deemed this level of tax on executives’ earnings to be prohibitive.”

Full story here

 

Rock star politicians

Forget the X-Factor if you wanna get rich and famous, there’s a new gig in town, become a millionaire politician and screw the people.

Good times roll for the political cronies

Auditions soon, only problem is you must leave all morals at the door.

“It’s my pleasant duty to inform you that the latest government finance accounts show that John Bruton is now on a ministerial pension of €97,947. And if memory serves, John is also on a TD pension of around €52,000. I’m not sure if he’s on a pension from the EU for his sterling service in Washington, but I’m sure he has some lovely memories.

Unfortunately, last week John failed to get the new job he was after, president of the EU. Damn and blast. Perhaps we can find him a nixer. Maybe something like Alan Dukes has, remember Alan? He was another hapless Fine Gael leader who got the bum’s rush.

You will recall that when the banks went belly-up the Government urgently needed help. All hands to the wheel. So, some trustworthy folk consented to come to the aid of a nation in peril — people like Alan Dukes and Ray MacSharry, Dick Spring and other worthies. They accepted positions as “public-interest directors” on the boards of various banks. Watchdogs for the citizens. That’s what I like to see, the true patriotism of the public servant.

Turns out Alan Dukes is on a fee scale of about €99,000 for sitting on the board of Anglo Irish Bank. And this is on top of his €44,000 ministerial pension. And his €54,000 TD pension. And a Happy Christmas to you too, Alan, and a prosperous New Year.

Joe Walsh, a Fianna Fail ex-minister who was somehow making do on a ministerial pension of €73,000, is now our watchdog on the board of Bank of Ireland, on a fee scale of €78,000. Ray MacSharry is down for €56,000 from the board of Irish Life. Ray is used to emoluments from several other boards, a 40-grand pension for being a minister and 52-grand for being a TD.

Now, this is all joyful news — clearly we live in a wealthy country where the “fundamentals of the economy are sound” (isn’t that what Mary Harney loves to chortle?) and we can afford a rock-star lifestyle for our politicians.

Oh, dear, a late bulletin has just come in — it seems we’re not so wealthy. In fact, the Government is about to kick the bejayzus out of an already sinking economy, taking €4 billion out of it. They’ll drive up unemployment and make the budget deficit even worse (when they started cutting they thought the deficit would be 6.5 per cent, but their policies managed to double that).

Oddly enough, we can still afford to continue the rock-star lifestyle of the politicians. Charlie McCreevy, the financial genius behind the tax-break culture, is on a ministerial pension of about €73,000, with another €52,000 or so coming in his TD’s pension. This is on top of his €230,000 EU salary.

All our top politicians are in the quarter of a million category. Plus generous expenses, and everyone’s still got a limo and free city-centre parking for life. It’s a lovely job, being a minister, if it wasn’t for the door occasionally falling off your helicopter. If you’re a retired taoiseach you have a team of gardai driving you around until the day you pop your clogs.

Are we really so rich we can afford to pay Mary McAleese €323,000 a year, on top of her €317,000 allowance, plus room and board? She couldn’t maybe get by on €100,000? And Mary Robinson is entitled to a pension of €150,000 a year, and a senator’s pension of €36,000.”

EU President wants EU tax

New EU President wants EU-wide tax – Times Online

The agenda of ‘ever closer union’ proceeds.

BBC Newsnight on EU fraud,

 

Update 1: Daniel Hannan on how to reform the EU racket

Update 2: Carbon taxes will provide the EU with its own revenue stream

 

Windfalls

Martin Wolf writes on bank bonuses at bailed out banks and makes the case for a one-off windfall tax on such rewards in today’s Financial Times here,

“the case for generous subventions is to restore the financial system – and so the economy – to health. It is not to enrich bankers, particularly not those engaged in the sorts of trading activities that destroyed the financial system in the first place.Fourth, ordinary people can accept that risk takers receive huge rewards. But such rewards for those who have been rescued by the state and bear substantial responsibility for the crisis are surely intolerable…

…we have seen “a progressive rise in banking risk and an accompanying widening and deepening of the state safety net”. As the liabilities of the banks have become ever more socialised and so equity cushions have become increasingly redundant, the incentive for both limited liability shareholders and employees to game the taxpayer has risen greatly. It is rational for banks to choose risky strategies because they take the upside and taxpayers much of the downside.”

Losing Afghanistan again

A short note on the history of Afghanistan here.

A new wall

and a government we can never dismiss,

The end of the great deception – Christopher Booker

” as the EU’s leaders gather in Berlin to celebrate the end of that wall, they will also celebrate the rise of a new one – a wall they have built around themselves, that separates Europe’s politicians from all their subject peoples. From December 1, the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. (How long before they give it back its original name, “A Constitution for Europe”?) The EU will at last have the supreme government it has wanted so long – unelected, unaccountable and, as even its own polls show, less popular with those it rules over than ever before. But what do the politicians care? They have the power, and we now have a government we can never dismiss….

Where Mr Cameron is entirely at one with his Labour and Lib Dem counterparts is that they must never admit or explain just how much of Britain’s governance has already been given away, leaving Westminster with little more power than a rather grand local council. None of them will ever discuss this because they all belong to that new Europe-wide political class that governs us from behind its wall, without ever having to ask us for our consent.”

Also, EU Commissioners have remained in office illegally

Secret bailouts

The representatives of the American people are finally standing up against the secret bailouts of the US Federal Reserve, bailouts so secret that Bloomberg sued to try to get information on which companies the US central banks was favouring and succeeded, except they failed after the Fed appealed, tis now in limbo! From the Huffington Post,

Audit the Fed bill wins support from unusual coalition

Congressman Ron Paul started the ball rolling to audit the Fed, here he is talking about it.