Is there a bubble in predicting Armageddon? Latest economic data suggests the end of the world is still a while away. Lots of inflation and interest rate news
Economics of a United Ireland
Our latest podcast examines the week’s economic data - there is a lot of it. We make the case that interest in the Irish economy shouldn’t just be for those who live there. It is an excellent bell-weather for the global economy. And Irelnd is definitely slowing down.
More interaction with our listeners - keep the comments coming! We are learning a lot.
There is a lot of doom-mongering around. Books by Dr doom himself, Nouriel Roubini, top of the list but there are plenty of other contributors. Lots of them point at the central banks who, they say, face an impossible task: eliminating inflation without crashing the global economy. We are more optimistic.
With all of the worries about inflation, concern is focused on the red-hot labour markets on both sides of the Atlantic. But plentiful jobs is a good thing surely?
Thanks again. Great to see you touch on the unification economics.
I struggle with this idea that ireland will be gifted cash to take on Northern Ireland. Having voted in favour of unification, we have no bargaining power with the UK in exit negotiations, and whatever gets gifted by the EU or the US will be minuscule in comparison to the lost Westminster subvention.
The UN raised just 6bn in aid in the wake of the 2004 tsunami which killed a quarter of a million people. Northern Ireland needs 10 to 15bn every year.
On the housing debate, I completely agree on the ideology nonsense. Who pays for the housing isn’t the problem, it’s how can we build more. I think the centre ground in Irish politics have been leaving this goal wide open for the leftist populists to keep scoring into for far too long. It’s about time they planned and delivered some practical solutions that at least demonstrate they’re doing all they can to help the housing problem. Because there’s a narrative out there that they’re just happy to sit back and let the market fix the issue (when it’s not), and the lack of progress on workable solutions leaves them ill-equipped to fight back against that narrative.