For the last 10 years we've been hearing about how this, that and the other was a rip off and sure "That's rip off Ireland" for ye'!
Everyone from tradespeople to bankers, lawyers, doctors, publicans, shop owners and insurance companies were at it all the time. We went for over a decade without one person in this country getting value for money for anything!
We've all been hearing that a litre of beer is 2 cents in Portugal and you could go to Spain and live like a king for 2 weeks by selling the fluff from your belly button.
And yet, back at the ranch, any talk of reducing costs was seen as yet another example of the Fat Cats screwing the "Wurkers" and continuing their never-ending race to the bottom. The notion that high wages caused high prices seemed to be so abstract and nonsensical that it flew in the face of common sense. How could the two be linked? How could there be a connection between input costs and cost of production/supply? How could available money influence price when demand outstripped supply? These things were nonsense!
Thankfully the current recession/depression/disaster has resulted in a greater level of understanding of basic economics by a greater proportion of the population so more people understand that prices are a result of demand and input costs and so higher wages result in higher costs. Therefore some flocculent comrade on the Public Sector Broadcaster is now less likely to be greeted with vacuous nods of the head when he talks about racing to the bottom etc.
I just thought I’d share this one bright point in this rather depressing and benighted period of our country's history.
Everyone from tradespeople to bankers, lawyers, doctors, publicans, shop owners and insurance companies were at it all the time. We went for over a decade without one person in this country getting value for money for anything!
We've all been hearing that a litre of beer is 2 cents in Portugal and you could go to Spain and live like a king for 2 weeks by selling the fluff from your belly button.
And yet, back at the ranch, any talk of reducing costs was seen as yet another example of the Fat Cats screwing the "Wurkers" and continuing their never-ending race to the bottom. The notion that high wages caused high prices seemed to be so abstract and nonsensical that it flew in the face of common sense. How could the two be linked? How could there be a connection between input costs and cost of production/supply? How could available money influence price when demand outstripped supply? These things were nonsense!
Thankfully the current recession/depression/disaster has resulted in a greater level of understanding of basic economics by a greater proportion of the population so more people understand that prices are a result of demand and input costs and so higher wages result in higher costs. Therefore some flocculent comrade on the Public Sector Broadcaster is now less likely to be greeted with vacuous nods of the head when he talks about racing to the bottom etc.
I just thought I’d share this one bright point in this rather depressing and benighted period of our country's history.