Yes to Jobs! No to elitism.

It has been reported that tensions are mounting within the coalition over the question of caps on salaries for senior civil servants. It seems that a fresh row has erupted over the appointment of a new secretary general at the Department of Finance, a position which is being described as prestigious - see Irish Independent 3/1/2012.

The current Government promised to cap maximum pay levels for higher positions across the public service, but has breached its own guidelines on numerous occasions. The most famous instance involved the Taoiseach himself, when he personally intervened to ensure a higher salary for a political appointee from his own party. Fintan O'Toole's commentary in The Irish Times 6/12/11 reflected a certain public mood on this occasion, as well as raising some highly pertinent issues.

The salary being offered for the position of secretary general at Finance is €200,000 - the same salary that the Taoiseach currently earns. This comes at a time of national crisis and emergency, bourne mainly out of economic mismanagement and greed. Yet it has been noted that Irish politicians and senior civil servants are among the best paid in the world! Is one person's role really worth so much? If so, how come we don't appear to be getting value for our money?

The idea that is being mooted is that, despite all that is being endured under the terms of the ECB/IMF austerity plan, we have no choice but to pay these salaries in order to 'attract the right calibre' of candidates. Nowhere is it spelt out what that calibre is. What individual qualities, skills, training, motivation are being sought? What will Irish people benefit and gain from all of this? Apart, that is, from the 'knowledge' that we have the 'right calibre' of people implementing the decisions handed down to them by those put in charge by the ECB/IMF!

We are even told by the Irish Independent that:

... the pay cap is proving to be a deterrent to attracting the right calibre of person for the job - particularly those candidates living abroad. ... A number of potential overseas applicants have expressed dismay at the fact there is no relocation allowance with the job - a perk that is common in the financial world. The Department of Finance is also refusing to pay the flight or transport costs of those who attend the interview from overseas, which would also be the norm in business recruitment. - ibid

Is this then a reflection on our educational system? Or of a national inferiority complex, perhaps? Are we really so incapable of producing our own problem solvers?

We are interested in hearing from job seekers on this issue. Among the questions that we would like to raise for debate are:

• Should Irish people accept the elitist consensus that is being formulated among some at the upper echelons of our society? 
• Does the forward momentum of our economy and our society really depend upon the cultivation of a highly-paid elite? Persons whose salaries and lifestyles are financed out of the public purse; who may or may not turn out to be our 'saviours', but who always seem quick to take the credit without taking any of the responsibility!
• Are our government and political leaders merely wallowing in the most servile and self-serving justifications, reflective of a moral and spiritual bankruptcy that goes hand in hand with the financial bankruptcy which they are also presiding over?

These are just some views that we are putting out for public debate and consideration. We welcome your own comments.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man...

History is full of great men arriving at times of crisis; Churchill, de Valera, Roosevelt, Ghandi, Mandela. Statesmen who are immortalised by the leadership they brought at watershed moments in their nation’s history.

Ireland stands today, at such a watershed moment. Our economy is on the brink of collapse; civil unrest could become a real possibility if things don’t improve. Every passing day seems to bring worse and worse news. We seem to be stumbling from one crisis to the next; our leaders openly acknowledge they don’t really know the extent of our problems.

We’re a small country, 4 million people or thereabouts. By the end of the year up to half a million of us could be without work. That’s unprecedented in modern times. The Government is borrowing billions of Euros; not to invest in rebuilding the country, but simply to balance the books. That we are living way above our means is indisputable.

A ‘budget’ is due next week. It is expected to include savage cuts in Government spending and a significant increase in taxation.

What happens if the ‘budget’ doesn’t work? What if things don’t improve? Supposing things get worse? What then?

We have to be realistic; things are going to be tough. We’re in for a rough time; maybe a very rough time. There will be setbacks, changes in direction, moments of crisis that will really test the mettle of the Government and the nation.

At times like this, we need leadership. A leader is someone who can inspire us, who can pull us through the hard times; someone who knows where they are going, who has a goal, an objective. A leader is also someone we can believe in, someone we trust and support; someone we will follow, no matter what.

Therein lies our problem; we don’t have that leader. We have a Government and a Taoiseach that are hopelessly unpopular. Public confidence in our leaders is at an all time low. Whether the two Brians and the rest of the cabinet have the capability to solve our problems, or not, is irrelevant. What matters is they don’t have our confidence.

Whether it is a general leading his troops into battle, a captain leading his team on the pitch, or a Prime Minister leading his country at a time of crisis; to succeed in any campaign, the leader must command both authority and respect. The troops, the players, the country must have faith and confidence in their leader. If they don’t then he has to go. It’s as simple as that.

We have a Taoiseach who got there by default. He has no mandate to lead the country in the way he would have if he led his party to victory in a general election. We have a Government we have no faith in.

At moments of crisis thoughout history, populations have demonstrated a willingness to accept significant sacrifice for the common cause. What we need now is a ‘crisis government’, one that can lead us out of the storm. To succeed, such a government must have public opinion on its side. If it is unable to inspire public confidence, the crisis will become a disaster.

It is ironic to hear the clamour for the boards of the banks to resign. They created the banking crisis, so the argument goes, how can they be trusted to solve it. So too the Government. Fianna Fail has been in government for 12 years. Brian Cowan has been a minister for most of that time. He was Finance Minister before he became Taoiseach.

President Obama was elected on a mandate of change. It is time now for change in Ireland. We urgently need a leader we can believe in. We need a Churchill; we need a new De Valera.

Step aside Mr Cowan; it’s time for a new man and a new Government to lead Ireland now.

Copyright © David Jones 2009

Adjust or go Bust!

David Jones wonders if the reflationary policies being pursued by the Fed and the Central Banks will work...

I’ve lost count of how much money the Fed, the ECB, the Bank of England and the other central banks are pumping into the world wide economy to stimulate growth. The amount is so large I doubt there’d be enough room on one line of text for all the noughts involved. How much is a trillion anyway?

I’m no economist. I accept I have no qualification to question the actions of important central bankers; I can’t help wondering though, have any of the eminent treasury experts who are making these decisions stopped to think about the consequences of what they’re doing?

Presumably all this money that’s being pumped into Western economies is being borrowed from somewhere. Anyone stopped to question how we’re going to pay it all back? As I understand it manufacturing in the West has pretty much disappeared. Obvious question is; if we don’t make anything anymore, what are we going to sell? And if we’ve nothing to sell, how are we going to generate money to pay back those massive loans? Hopefully I’ve missed something obvious; but if I haven’t, what’s the fall back plan?

It’s prudent, before big decisions are put into practice, to ask why? Why are we doing this? What’s the point; what are we trying to achieve? It’s also appropriate to take at least a cursory look at the risk involved; or to put it another way around, is the objective attainable?

Therein lies the problem; for precedent would suggest the plan is flawed. Seemingly the Japanese tried it a few years ago, and it failed; but we’re all conveniently forgetting that. No-one seems concerned about this Japanese accident of history. Maybe they should be; for according to Karl Marx, history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as a farce.

But let’s not be unduly pessimistic; 40,000 Frenchmen can’t be wrong. All the experts seem to be agreed that re-flating the economies of the world is the only way out of the current crisis. Surely they must know what they’re doing, mustn’t they? Hang on a sec, aren’t they the same guys that told us house prices were ok, or at worst were set for a soft landing. Some soft landing eh?

Based on their track record shouldn’t we ask, do they know what they’re doing?

Their approach to the current crisis seems to be trying to turn the clock back; to get the economy back to where it was before the crash. The thinking seems to be if we can get back to where we started from, then everything will be ok again; but will it?

By releasing all these trillions into the world economy the central bankers hope to rebuild economic activity and get us all back to work again. Sounds great doesn’t it, but hang on a sec; shouldn’t we at least spend some time trying to find out what went wrong last time around? If not, are we not in danger of re-building another fiasco? Are we not just reconstructing another house of cards? Since it all failed so spectacularly last time, what makes the central bankers and economists think it won’t just fall apart again?

Ordinary people in the street knew the boom of the last ten years couldn’t possibly last. Every single one of us knew it was only a matter of time. And when the collapse came, were we surprised? Not at all; sure we all knew it couldn’t last. So why are our Governments trying so hard to get us back to where we were?

Wouldn’t it be better if we tried to adjust to the new reality, rather than pretend it will somehow go away? Shouldn’t we make the necessary adjustments, cut our cloth accordingly? Wouldn’t it be prudent now to accept, that it is change, not more of the same, that’s needed?

But change needs leadership. It means making harsh decisions. It means people’s living standards are going to have to drop. It means all of us accepting less than we’ve been used to. It means sacrifice; who’s going to have the guts to tell us that?

Bad news, and that’s what the truth often is, doesn’t make for good electioneering does it? Vote for me and see your standard of living decline; far better to promise the sun, the moon and the stars; then let some other fella try to sort out the resultant mess in the future.

But it’s change we need; and we need it now if we’re going to stave off future disaster. But politicians don’t like looking too far ahead; they prefer dealing with yesterday. They prefer blaming each other for what’s gone wrong, rather than trying to sort it out. Leading from behind is so much easier than leading from the front. I told you so is a very low risk strategy; sure nothing can wrong if you don’t do anything.

For change to work it has to be equitable, fair, honest, open and just. It necessitates compromise. It needs all of us abandoning our selfish attitudes.

Rather than cling to some ill thought out hope that we can get back what we’ve lost; wouldn’t we better off to acknowledge that things will never be the same again? Wouldn’t we be better off adjusting to the inevitable while we can; and before we make it infinitely worse by saddling ourselves with massive debts that future generations may never be able to pay back?

Our leaders are pursuing a high risk strategy. It’s also a very short-sighted one. Politicians have a bad habit of not looking very far ahead. Rather than admit we’re living above our means; they’re adding to the problem by borrowing what we can’t repay. Instead of accepting that the house of cards is falling down, they’re trying to fix it with a very, very expensive coat of paint. They’re shoring up the sham by pawning the future. It’s not good enough. We should demand better from them.

Copyright © David Jones 2009