I often wonder if the ordinary person you meet is far more attuned to what is happening than or so called experts. I have in mind all the doom and gloom preached by professional commentators on our economy for the past year and contrast this with the general low key optimism expressed by many people in recent months that things were picking up. Lets hope it will continue.
Ordinary Man on the Street
- Thread starter dewdrop
- Start date
I used to listen to the weekend morning panel discussions on radio, but now no longer bother. I find they're populated by similar personalities / attitudes.
They're from a professional class (e.g. politician, journalist, lobby group, trade union) and tend to align to predictable points of view. I can not think of any time where a random punter was included.
Any time I hear one of these panellists say ".. that's all anyone is talking about at dinner parties", I switch stations.
They're from a professional class (e.g. politician, journalist, lobby group, trade union) and tend to align to predictable points of view. I can not think of any time where a random punter was included.
Any time I hear one of these panellists say ".. that's all anyone is talking about at dinner parties", I switch stations.
I'm the same and it's great. Just get on with what I have to do, and do it without all the waffling. Do any of these people get anything done in their lives I wonder?
It all depends on who the man-in-the-street is. One thing is certain, most of the people on television and radio never view or listen to either. They believe TV and Radio are there for their presence and any money offered is their easy money. These media parasites (probably the wrong word) are media trained and know how to control their public situations. The man-in-the-street has little or no chance of a mass audience in which to put across his/her views. Perhaps this is why we are on Forums like this.
to be fair to the pundits, if they were to talk about their personal situations they'd be called self-obsessed and having an "I'm alright Jack" mentality (since none of them are exactly on the breadline).
So therefore, to be seen to be sympatethic, and to avoid accusations of being in an ivory tower, they harp on about how bad it is and how the economy is in tatters.
And if you look at the overall situation (up the the last week or so anyway), there werent any reasons to be cheerful. Sure with the budget in December it was all Apocolypse Now and which one of my kids will I decide to feed today. So I think the low key optimism is only in the last week.
You may say wasnt Christmas spending up?, it was, and that brings me to the next point that an individuals circumstances and that of the economy arent exactly correlated. OK the country is fecked but if you're still working then chances are your pay is no worse than 10% down from where it was, you've been hit hard with taxes but thats a 5 year thing, the last 2 budgets havent exactly gutted you and you're used to getting by on the reduced take home, and there are those annoying property charges but you're working so you can afford to pay them, hey its Christmas you have a few bob and why not spend it, its been a miserable year and you deserve a break. So I think it was being fed up of wallowing in misery and fear, rather than any great new optimism that drove the Christmas spend.
I am now cautiously optimistic, a few recent indicators looking ok, it looks like no more tax or charges shocks to come.
Despite these little bits of good news I see McWilliams warning of new desolation when rising interest rates nab "trackerlanders" or whatever stupid phrase he always seems obsessed with coining. He's seems determined to be the bogeyman and I find it hard to take what he says at face value as he seems to be so agenda driven. Its not that I cannot accept bad news, but if a more balanced guy is writing it I tend to believe it more.
Article in Indo today about radio being male dominated and an 'old boys club'. I see Pat Kenny is going to keep working as he cant afford not to???, why pray would that be when he's been coining it for years - has he a major coke habit or something????
While I'm all for the Ordinary Man, it seems they dont pick the most articulate of them for any soundbites I see/hear - you usually get real simplistic stuff. If you factored out "jail the bankers" and "them politicians are all out for themselves", there mighnt be much more to discuss. So we might have to suffer it out with the media luvvies, but overall I'm not too down on them.
"I'm an ordinary man, nothing special nothing grand, I've had to work for everything I own..........", give it a listen, sadly so true again.
So therefore, to be seen to be sympatethic, and to avoid accusations of being in an ivory tower, they harp on about how bad it is and how the economy is in tatters.
And if you look at the overall situation (up the the last week or so anyway), there werent any reasons to be cheerful. Sure with the budget in December it was all Apocolypse Now and which one of my kids will I decide to feed today. So I think the low key optimism is only in the last week.
You may say wasnt Christmas spending up?, it was, and that brings me to the next point that an individuals circumstances and that of the economy arent exactly correlated. OK the country is fecked but if you're still working then chances are your pay is no worse than 10% down from where it was, you've been hit hard with taxes but thats a 5 year thing, the last 2 budgets havent exactly gutted you and you're used to getting by on the reduced take home, and there are those annoying property charges but you're working so you can afford to pay them, hey its Christmas you have a few bob and why not spend it, its been a miserable year and you deserve a break. So I think it was being fed up of wallowing in misery and fear, rather than any great new optimism that drove the Christmas spend.
I am now cautiously optimistic, a few recent indicators looking ok, it looks like no more tax or charges shocks to come.
Despite these little bits of good news I see McWilliams warning of new desolation when rising interest rates nab "trackerlanders" or whatever stupid phrase he always seems obsessed with coining. He's seems determined to be the bogeyman and I find it hard to take what he says at face value as he seems to be so agenda driven. Its not that I cannot accept bad news, but if a more balanced guy is writing it I tend to believe it more.
Article in Indo today about radio being male dominated and an 'old boys club'. I see Pat Kenny is going to keep working as he cant afford not to???, why pray would that be when he's been coining it for years - has he a major coke habit or something????
While I'm all for the Ordinary Man, it seems they dont pick the most articulate of them for any soundbites I see/hear - you usually get real simplistic stuff. If you factored out "jail the bankers" and "them politicians are all out for themselves", there mighnt be much more to discuss. So we might have to suffer it out with the media luvvies, but overall I'm not too down on them.
"I'm an ordinary man, nothing special nothing grand, I've had to work for everything I own..........", give it a listen, sadly so true again.
Obviously, the ordinary woman is superfluous to the conversation. But, that never stymied me before.
Pay Kenny telling people he cannot afford to retire is a bit crass - but hey he was happy that teachers salaries would be cut to €50000 a couple of years ago. (He obviously carried some baggage from his time at school over a 60 year period) Sad!
This is just a cry from him to continue broadcasting with RTE.
I don't know what he does to justify his salary.
Marion
Pay Kenny telling people he cannot afford to retire is a bit crass - but hey he was happy that teachers salaries would be cut to €50000 a couple of years ago. (He obviously carried some baggage from his time at school over a 60 year period) Sad!
This is just a cry from him to continue broadcasting with RTE.
I don't know what he does to justify his salary.
Marion
Obviously, the ordinary woman is superfluous to the conversation. But, that never stymied me before.
Pay Kenny telling people he cannot afford to retire is a bit crass - but hey he was happy that teachers salaries would be cut to €50000 a couple of years ago. (He obviously carried some baggage from his time at school over a 60 year period) Sad!
This is just a cry from him to continue broadcasting with RTE.
I don't know what he does to justify his salary.
Marion
I find it fascinating that Joe Duffy earns a fortune,yet the so called "ordinary"people phone in to give out about high salaries!
And even stranger to hear him sympathise so much with them.
Stranger still is "fiver Friday". ,that one hour and fifteen minutes probably cost the taxpayer 5 thousand euro!
Maybe I'm missing something ?
Obviously, the ordinary woman is superfluous to the conversation. But, that never stymied me before.
Pay Kenny telling people he cannot afford to retire is a bit crass - but hey he was happy that teachers salaries would be cut to €50000 a couple of years ago. (He obviously carried some baggage from his time at school over a 60 year period) Sad!
This is just a cry from him to continue broadcasting with RTE.
I don't know what he does to justify his salary.
Marion
I had to re-read that; they were cut to €50,000, and you reckon that someone thinking that a teacher having their wages cut to almost €1000 per week (not getting into how many weeks they actually work) is somehow a bad thing?
It was mentioned in the context of somebody who, at the time he offered his opinion regarding salaries of others, was earning around €900,000 per annum who now is happy to go to the press and state that he cannot afford to retire on a current salary of €750,000 per annum.
Marion
Marion
We can moan and groan about the salaries of radio and television presenters. I dont think Joe Duffy or Pat Kenny have any special talent. But, they have good researchers who make them look good. You don't have to be good to present a television or radio show, but you make yourself look good. Duffy and Kenny are box-off boy! (as they say in Cork).
Begrudge them if you wish, but they are box-office and can sell radio and television advertising. But, remember they are only the front men. It is the back-office people who really do the work. Mr Kenny and Mr Duffy just present what the researchers dug up.
It's like before an extended family get-together, the presentation is done by family members cleaning, hoovering, baking, cooking, washing, painting etc. One family member does nothing but places a bowl of beautiful flowers on the table just as the guests arrive which is the admiration of all. Guess who gets all the praise?
Begrudge them if you wish, but they are box-office and can sell radio and television advertising. But, remember they are only the front men. It is the back-office people who really do the work. Mr Kenny and Mr Duffy just present what the researchers dug up.
It's like before an extended family get-together, the presentation is done by family members cleaning, hoovering, baking, cooking, washing, painting etc. One family member does nothing but places a bowl of beautiful flowers on the table just as the guests arrive which is the admiration of all. Guess who gets all the praise?
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Are all teachers on more than 50k? If so, wow.
C
celebtastic
Guest
The OECD’s recent Education at a Glance survey puts Irish teachers as the fourth-highest-paid among the organisation’s 34 member countries.
http://www.oecd.org/edu/highlights.pdf
Only Luxembourg, Germany and Canada pay their teachers more.
http://www.oecd.org/edu/highlights.pdf
Only Luxembourg, Germany and Canada pay their teachers more.
Dealing with other people's kids for 6/7 hours a day ? There's no amount of money to make me want to do that
!