For my part, I think we are a failed state. There is something deeply wrong with this country.
The term failed state is often used by political commentators and journalists to describe a state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government. In order to make this definition more precise, the following attributes, proposed by the Fund for Peace, are often used to characterize a failed state:
* loss of control of its territory, or of the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force therein,
* erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions,
* an inability to provide public services, and
* an inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community.
Often a failed nation is characterized by social, political, and economic failure.
What kind of monsterous society do we live in? Judges must volunteer for wage cuts at least until the referendum, likewise the chief ex.'s of semi-states. Vastly overpaid hospital consultants will be excluded from the wage ceiling whilst they consult with the health minister. No such choices for the minimum wage earners. They must take what they are given.
Meanwhile, debt incurred privately by the rich is socialised and laid on the backs of taxpayers who had no hand, act or part in incurring them. Bankrupt speculators rush to protect their assets using legal loopholes (transfers to the wife etc). No one is sitting in a jail cell for any of this, or even before a court. Bank executives who beggared their banks walk away with vast pay-outs. Politicians who beggared the country likewise. None of them can be touched.
Billions can be found to rescue banks, but we leave schoolkids in portacabins and cut special needs teachers. Rich pensioners keep medical cards and the rich get priority in healthcare.
And the unelected officials at the ECB and the EU now control our destiny. We are at their mercy, and the mercy of Germany & France.
Where is democracy in Ireland? where is justice? Where is fairness? Where is morality? Where the hell are republican values that are supposed to underpin this nation of supposed equals?
For my part, I think we are a failed state. There is something deeply wrong with this country.
Meanwhile, debt incurred privately by the rich is socialised and laid on the backs of taxpayers who had no hand, act or part in incurring them.
I think in the future, people will look back at the 'Celtic Tiger' years of 2000-2007 as a major lost opportunity.
As a country, we blew it.
The boom ended in 2003. After that it was a bubble. My analogy is that we were like passengers in a rocket heading straight up in the air. When the engines went silent a few people said “We’re in trouble; the engines have stopped” but the majority said “Rubbish; look out the window, we are still going up”. They confused momentum for propulsion. The propulsion stopped in 2003.
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