Madam, – The quality of analysis of our current economic crisis that has emerged in the Letters page over the past eight months has been excellent.
This reflects a huge intellectual capacity among the general public to tackle the crisis in an innovative manner. The Government, by contrast, has been pursuing policies that are not only inequitable but incompetent. Short-term crisis management is no strategy for engineering a new future for the national economy.
Concentrating on the public finances is a necessity, but it must be coupled with more ambitious targets in the real economy. Our crisis is not simply located in the “public finances”. It is in the national economy. The primary objective should be to develop clear strategies for maintaining existing employment through creative measures that treat lay-offs as a last resort. The second objective should be to create new employment by utilising the skills of the existing workforce. Again, this requires fiscal creativity and prudent decisions. Equally, to develop a strategy for economic recovery we have to stop concentrating on cutting public expenditure. We need to increase revenue through an increase in taxation. There is no escaping this fiscal reality.
The 10-point plan issued by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, while not perfect, contains a framework for a genuine national recovery. It combines fiscal measures with broader economic ambitions.
The Government should abandon its ad-hoc, short term crisis management and return to the social partnership talks. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In recent months front-line bank officials have experienced a new phenomenon at work – an unprecedented level of vitriol and abuse, including threats of violence, from customers and members of the public who blame the regular staff working in the branches for the excesses of a handful of high fliers at the top.
Bank staff feel particularly aggrieved because the new culture in banking – which has led to most of the current difficulties in the financial services sector – is one that they have spoken out against on many occasions in the past through their representatives in IBOA, the Finance Union.
Five years ago IBOA was warning that the introduction of new practices – driven by the banks’ obsession with maximising short-term shareholder value at the expense of long-term stability and prudence – would not only inconvenience customers and pressurise staff but ultimately undermine the entire financial services sector. But at the height of the property boom, no one wanted to hear negative warnings from a bunch of party poopers.
IBOA pointed out that the simple notion of a bank as a place where you used to either deposit or withdraw money had been replaced by a far more complicated concept in which banks sell “financial products” using high- pressure retail strategies. Under this new approach, bank staff have been required to meet a range of performance targets (even more inappropriate in these recessionary times) to supplement a very modest basic wage.
The stress of working in such a culture has been further intensified in recent years by significant rationalisation programmes as part of the drive by senior managers to push costs down and force profits up. For many bank officials, one of the few compensations for the major change in their working lives used to be the allocation of bank shares. These were generally held to pay tuition fees for teenage children or provide rainy-day money for later life. But whatever they may have once represented, they are, of course, virtually worthless now.
So in sharp contrast to the fat cats, the overwhelming majority of bank officials receive very modest rewards for their loyalty and hard work. Like many staff in the health service, bank officials take a great deal of pride in the role they perform but are extremely frustrated by the circumstances in which they have to discharge it.
Public opinion rarely blames nurses for the problems of the health service; indeed, they usually receive well-earned praise for continuing to work in spite of all the system’s shortcomings. Unfortunately, many people seem reluctant to give bank staff the same consideration. They are being scapegoated unjustly for the sins of others. It is high time reason prevailed. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Your Editorial of February 17th declares “the taxpayers’ willingness to underwrite the banks” and refers to “the generosity of the taxpayer”. Both phrases imply that the taxpayer has a choice. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I hope our esteemed bankers and their collaborators Messrs Ahern, Cowen and McCreevy read Morgan Kelly’s prognosis for our beleaguered economy (Analysis, February 17th), as this is their legacy to future generations of Ireland. I also hope that the general populace learns from this experience and doesn’t repeat the electoral sleep-walk which allowed the cabal of bankers, developers and compromised politicians to bankrupt this country.
The Irish electorate must take responsibility and move on from parochial politics when next choosing the national legislature. It can’t be about who fixes your pot-holes any more; there are more fundamental issues at stake. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Having read Prof Morgan Kelly’s latest apocalyptic article and fallen into despair, may I ask you to cheer us up and bring back that perennial optimist Dr Dan MacLoughlin of Bank of Ireland? Dan has been absent ever since the recession started. We miss him. Come back, Dan. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Celtic Tiger and the Fat Cats have created a new breed in Ireland: the Celtic Cheetahs. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It seems that the gombeen bankers have effectively torpedoed our economy and left it to the Soldiers of Destiny to sort it out. Unfortunately their officers have proved to be inept and the army is in danger being routed by the financial cowboys.
These gombeen men appear to be above the law and can treat us, the public, with utter disdain. The frustration shown in your Letters page is palpable and there seems to be no way in which our feelings can be conveyed to FitzPatrick and his bank cronies. May I suggest that a public-spirited citizen drop a load of manure at the front door of a select number of these unpatriotic, avaricious fraudsters? I am available to help offload the drop. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The term “golden circle” has returned to popularity. But does this description not exalt the people concerned rather too much?
Perhaps “brass circle” might be more appropriate. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Kevin Ryan (February 17th) attacks the Opposition parties for not supporting the Government and calls on them to adopt a Tallaght Strategy approach. But he fails to see that we are talking about two very different political situations.
In 1987, when Alan Dukes implemented the Tallaght Strategy, the Fianna Fáil government did not command a majority in the Dáil. It was extremely likely that, had it been opposed on every point, it simply would not have been able to govern properly. The Tallaght Strategy was a necessary element in providing the political stability needed for recovery at that time. It should also be pointed out that it did not give the government of the day a free ride, as many seem to think, but was conditional on Fianna Fáil implementing reasonable and fair measures to effect the recovery.
Today the Fianna Fáil/ Green/PD Government has no such issue with regard to political stability. It commands a comfortable majority in the Dáil and its unifying pact seems to be holding firm. Why then, should the Government need the Opposition to support it to implement a plan of recovery?
The fact of the matter is that this Government seems completely incapable of governing. Given such a climate of incompetence it is only proper that the Opposition should question and castigate an administration that seems gripped by such paralysis and indecision.
The idea that in a crisis an Opposition should simply shut up and do nothing is insidious and undemocratic. The right to speak out and criticise is fundamental to our political system and I hope the Opposition parties continue to exercise this right. It is nothing less than their duty to do so.– Yours, etc,
Madam, – “The owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable.
“The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalised, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.” - Karl Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. – Yours, etc,