john.keyes.ie

We’ve signed up for democracy. We’ve bought into Thatcher and Reagan’s capitalist system. We’ve emptied our Celtic Tiger wallets regularly. We’ve voted (and continue to vote) for corrupt politicians. We’ve welcomed cheap exports at the expense of local produce (and jobs). We don’t see fraud as a real crime – “Ah sure he tried to get away with it and got caught, he won’t do that again”. Our society is weak and thinks this economic mess (and the environmental challenge we face) will sort itself out in the long term. Government (read taxpayer) bailouts go against the free market, but it seems plenty of people are willing to accept it because the only other alternative is job losses. Bailouts are wrong, they reward bad business practices, they lull citizens into believing the government are performing, and hide the fact that the government has no plans on building a sustainable free economy. It’s a drastic short term diversion from the harsh long term economic position. There are plenty of small business owners and entrepreneurs in Ireland who given some money would be able to create more jobs and foster an innovative business spirit. These are the people who should be getting some of my money, not people who had their cake, and ate it with a jewel encrusted fork.