Nell'articolo si puo' leggere come fino a poco tempo fa questa economia galoppante fosse data per scontato e come durante il periodo della "Manna dal cielo" ("Manna from heaven", le nostre vacche grasse) il governo non ne abbia approfittato per modernizzarsi come avrebbe dovuto.
Questo almeno secondo l'Economic and Social Research Institute, osservatorio irlandese indipendente:
"Everyone knows the downturn in the public finances is because government blew the finances from the boom which everybody knew would be temporary," Dr. Alan Barrett of the ESRI said on Monday.
The biggest indictment against the Government is that during a period of a manna-from-heaven of riches, the opportunity was not used to seriously reform governance, public sector and barriers to competition in the private services sector.
Come avevamo gia' scritto RealityShow e io tempo fa, c'e' chi crede alla favola "abbiamo fatto tutto da soli, siamo i migliori lavoratori del mondo" e che stare nella EU non sia tutto sto granche'. L'irlanda ha fatto molto da sola, ma se non fosse stata membro EU, non sarebbe riuscita ad arrivare dove e' ora:
Financial Times columnist Wolfgang Münchau wrote on Monday on the aftermath of the Lisbon Treaty rejection.
What strikes me the most about this extraordinary turn of events is the perception in Ireland that a break with the EU would be no big deal. I received a large number of letters from Ireland last week from readers who steadfastly maintain that the country’s economic success had nothing to do with the EU and everything to do with domestic policy – in particular with low corporate taxes and skilled labour.
The view expressed by those correspondents is as wrong as it is revealing. If so many people are delusional about their country’s economy, then we should perhaps not be surprised about the outcome of the referendum. It is therefore perhaps worth looking in some detail at the nature of Ireland’s economic success over the last 30 years to gauge what life might be like outside the EU.
There are several interactive factors. The importance of EU subsidies is almost certainly overrated. They played some part, especially in the early phase of the country’s economic renaissance. In any case, Ireland is on the verge of becoming a net contributor to the EU budget. But one would be even more mistaken to conclude the opposite: that the EU matters nothing or little.
Ireland was one of the early and enthusiastic members of the European Monetary System in 1979, which brought much needed macroeconomic stability. Membership of the eurozone in 1999 led to lower interest rates, which have contributed to the economic growth ever since. Low corporate tax rates certainly helped Ireland attract foreign investors. But never forget that Ireland is also the only English-speaking member of the eurozone, the one place where eurozone and Anglosphere meet. (Come disse Reality show piu' di un anno fa in questo suo post, regime fiscale impraticabile da altri paesi e inglese "ereditato" dai conquistatori britannici).
The country naturally benefited from membership of the EU’s internal market. Without it, Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, would not be able to offer its popular flights across Europe. The Irish have also proved influential in the management of the internal market, not least through Charlie McCreevy, the Irish commissioner in charge of the EU’s internal market and financial services. As a member of the EU, Ireland has been in a position to veto motions that would have impaired the country’s economic success. Without steadfast opposition from Ireland, the EU would have made more headway in imposing corporate tax harmonisation.
Chi va controcorrente non e' visto di buon occhio:
During the recent partytime, anyone who questioned the conventional wisdom was "talking down the economy" and last July former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, wondered why "cribbers"from the sidelines didn't commit suicide.
Molto meglio, come fanno molti italiani in irlanda, accusare chi non e' daccordo di essere un "catastrofista" e fare finta di niente, tanto va tutto bene:
Property man Ken MacDonald lamented in the Sunday Independent in March 2007: Why do we allow scaremongers and doomsayers with unfounded pessimism and unbridled negativity dictate our thinking and blunt consumer confidence? The Irish economy is the envy of the world. Job creation is phenomenal with more than 7,000 new jobs being created each month - despite the gloomy attention given to periodic job losses in some sectors.[...] (Il tizio vende case, ovviamente ha interesse a negare che ci sono problemi, ma gli italiani in irlanda che interesse hanno?).
Dove sta la parte del "non tutto e' perduto"? Nel fatto che pianificando (concetto del tutto alieno agli irlandesi) accuratamente la spesa pubblica forse c'e' speranza di ripresa nei prossimi anni:
The ESRI's Quarterly Economic Commentary says that the economy is experiencing considerable difficulties right now: The forecast for the re-emergence of net outward migration is possibly the most vivid illustration of this and may give rise to comparisons with the 1980s. Given the likelihood of such comparisons, it is worthwhile stressing that the economy is better placed today to emerge from these difficulties than it was in the mid-1980s. However, a return to higher growth rates is predicated on ensuring that public expenditure is both efficiently provided and effectively managed. In such a context, a return to positive growth in 2009 and 2010, forecast both here and in the Medium- Term Review 2008-2015, can be expected with a reasonable degree of confidence, something which could not be said in the mid-1980s.
Questo era solo uno stralcio, l'articolo copre altri aspetti e offre molti spunti di riflessione.
