# Objective and relevant economic comment



## Humdinger (23 Jan 2008)

Is there a source of objective economic comment in Ireland that is worth listening to....

In a week where we have seen stockmarket meltdown and yesterdays 3/4 point interest rate cut from the Fed, I was looking forward to the Primetime discussion on these topics last night and the promised view of the impact on us in Ireland.

After some token introductory comments, the discussion polarised into the impact on house prices here, with Tom Parlon/Austin Hughes in studio and D McWilliams onscreen from Davos. McWilliams to his credit tried to see the bigger picture .... the rest was easily forgotten with contributors focussed on their own agendas.... a million miles away from the global events impacting us this week.... it seemed we were missing the point.

This contrasts dramatically with BBC Newsnight screened later in the evening who had more objective commentators with diverse viewpoints. 

Our media (radio/tv/print) seems to be populated by a small group of economists from banks/estate agents who clearly push their own interests and get massive coverage. We got another dose earlier this month with their precitions for 2008. Is there an institution we can reliably trust for relevant and objective comment ??


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## ubiquitous (23 Jan 2008)

I find the Financial Times to be a useful source for (relatively) objective economic analysis.


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## thejuggler (23 Jan 2008)

Agreed Tom Parlon in particular has zero credibility as an analyst.  austin is not much better.  12 months ago they were predicting high single digit price increases for irish house prices in 2007.  Well they were spot on with that one weren't they.  

RTE give way too much airtime to these snake oil salesmen.


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## ubiquitous (23 Jan 2008)

At least Tom Parlon does not claim to be an analyst. He is a spokesman for a lobby group. People can take this into account when listening to what he has to say. I have a bigger gripe with the media when they present the views of certain economists or analysts without disclosing clearly that they are employed by or otherwise beholden to certain vested interests, and as such their views may be coloured by this.


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## Markjbloggs (23 Jan 2008)

Vincent Browne's late night news on TV3 was quite good last night - the only thing worth watching on that joke of a channel.


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## F. Kruger (23 Jan 2008)

This link may be of interest

[broken link removed]


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## Calico (23 Jan 2008)

I have to say, it doesn't do much for my confidence in our politicians when the job of a minister and a contruction lobbyist are  interchangeable as Tom Parlon. But anyway.......

I think the thing to remember is that these people don't really know what's around the corner themselves & that they are going to push their own agenda if they think they can get a few more lemmings in their corner. 

The fact is, that talk is just that, talk. Markets are at the behest of no-one and ultimately no amount of commentary by a vested interest will determine the outcome of events. Although, I have to admit, that it can be both funny and frustrating to listen to these guys set interest rates on a daily basis! They'll want to change the climate next!


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## Humdinger (23 Jan 2008)

I guess these guys can say what they want, peddle their story thru a willing media and there is no accountability. 

There are many amongst Joe Public who see them as an authority and who make decisions in their daily lives on the basis of what they hear on drivetime radio on the way home.

I saw a table in one of the papers at the turn of the year which ranked US institutions on the basis of the accuracy of their forecasts made in Jan 2007 versus what actually happened . It included measures such as GDP growth, inflation, employment growth etc etc. While forecasting is precarious by nature and a margin of error is to be expected, it was remarkable how accurate some of them were.

Has anyone seen anything similar for Irish forecasters....... it would make fascinating reading.


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