Dublin Opinion

The class of people who told us two years ago that everything is ok, are the same class of people who are now telling us what to do to put things right.

They were acting completely in their self-interest then, and they’re acting in their self-interest now.

There’s a news clip from two years ago at the bottom of this post, in which David Drumm [formerly] of Anglo Irish Bank is asked to explain Irish economic growth. He puts it down to demographics.

It’s been a demographic story. Erhm, lot of young people coming through, baby boom of the 70s and 80s is translating into consumers and house buyers at this stage. Erhm, so strong story there. and should be good out over the medium term.”

I suppose he couldn’t really say:

Well we’ve been borrowing a fuckload of money on the international markets and, erhm, pissing it on property and stocks.

Drumm is followed by Steve Goldstein, who also puts it down to unprotected sex.

A lot of it is simply population growth. Erhm, everywhere else in Europe people’re talking about pension time-bombs, slowing populations. Not in Ireland. Both within the country their own, you know, fertility rate, plus they’ve been very aggressive in taking immigrants from Eastern Europe and adding that to their economy. So that’s been one of the big propellers. And then you also have to look at the regulatory environment. Corporate tax rates there are twelve and a half per cent. That lures in a lot of capital from abroad, particularly from the U.S., erm, that’s really helped, erh, set the foundations for this tremendous, so-called, Irish tiger growth story.

Drumm is followed by Robbie Kelleher, who sounds like he should be playing for Spurs with a name like that, but who in fact works for Davy Stockbrokers. One of his lines is:

I agree with most of the analysis of the previous speakers, what’s driving the Irish economy at the moment is very much the internal dynamics that come from the combination of 2% interest rates and a young and rapidly expanding population, and the growth in that population is particularly concentrated in the economically active age groups, in the 20s and 30s and the 40s and so on. And that gives a very strong dynamic to the Irish economy.

And I suppose the big risk, if you were to identify one, would be the housing market, the level of activity in the housing market is exceptionally high. And at some stage that’s going to have to adjust. But we remain confident that even with an adjustment in the housing market, erh, that the Irish economy will continue to grow at rates well ahead of anywhere else in Europe.”

We know the analysis presented in the clip from two years ago is total and utter bunk, but then again, we knew two years ago that it was total and utter bunk as well.

And even though it’s only two years ago, it seems a lifetime in terms of what has changed.

What has not changed, of course, is the fact that when it comes to selling us shit as shinola, Ireland’s indigenous financial capital class are still setting the economic agenda.