Who’s to be blame?

David Jones takes an alternative look at the current economic crisis and asks who is to blame for what is happening...

It’s human nature to look for someone to blame when something goes wrong. Amazing thing is; it’s always someone else’s fault. Whatever happened to the honest ‘fair cop guv’nor’ response to getting caught with your fingers in the till?

“It wasn’t me; it wasn’t my fault,” is the automatic reaction to everything bad that happens nowadays. Husbands are driven to infidelity by their wives frigidity. It’s not their fault they’re unfaithful; they can’t help themselves. Wives take lovers because their husband is uncaring, or they’re getting a bit over the hill and want to feel young again; but it’s not their fault, they’ve got an excuse. Vandals commit mindless crimes because society has let them down; people do reckless, even horrible things, because they’re under pressure. It’s not their fault. They can’t help themselves; they’re victims.

“Who could blame them? Wouldn’t you do the same thing if you were in their shoes?” is the sympathetic response we so often get from liberal minded neighbours, friends, work-colleagues and so on.

The current economic crisis that threatens to destroy society as we know it, is no different. Half a million people in Ireland may be on the dole queues by Christmas, but it no one’s fault. Certainly no Government Minister is to blame. It’s a worldwide problem; it started in America. The Irish Government can’t control the value of the Euro against Sterling; it’s not our Government’s fault Eastern European labour costs are less than ours.

The Government’s blameless. They’ve only been in power for the last 12 years, haven’t they? They gave us the Celtic Tiger, didn’t they? That was their achievement, wasn’t it? They took all the credit for it, didn’t they? But the Celtic collapse? Sure that’s nothing to do with them, is it?
It’s the Banks; they’re to blame. They lent too much money to property developers. They gave out irresponsible mortgages to first time buyers and pushed up house prices. They got greedy and paid themselves massive bonuses. It’s their fault; they didn’t know what they were doing.
But I thought we had a Government appointed Regulator? Didn’t the Government, through the local authorities, organise zoning that inflated building land prices? Didn’t the Government establish tax incentives to encourage property developers? And didn’t the Government profit enormously from stamp duty on over-priced houses?

No, no, I remember now; it’s the Golden Circle. They’re to blame. How could a Chinese restaurant cause all these problems? No silly, the Golden Circle isn’t a Chinese Restaurant; it’s a group of fat-cat bankers and property developers that hang around the Fianna Fail tent at the Galway races. Nothing to with the Government you know.

Maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Maybe it was the Banks’ fault after all. Sure didn’t they seduce ordinary, decent folk with bucket loads of money to spend on furniture, flat-screen TV’s, 4X4’s, designer handbags, extensions, attic conversions, conservatories, holidays in the Costas, debs dances, stretch limos, fake tans and so on. The poor innocent consumer surely wasn’t to blame. They didn’t know what they were doing. They weren’t used to having money to spend; their parents probably didn’t even have a bank account when they were young.

How could Mr and Mrs Average and their kids be expected to know they were acting irresponsibly spending all that money they didn’t really have, on things they didn’t really need? Even worse, how could they be expected to realise, all that easy money they naively borrowed would have to be paid back, even if things turned bad? Sure they couldn’t know that; they were only pawns in someone else’s game.

Blaming the Government and keeping them on their toes is the Opposition’s job. The warnings from Fine Gael and Labour that we should halt the Celtic Tiger were deafening, weren’t they? Can anyone remember one Opposition spokesman, or anyone else in authority for that matter, whose policy was that we really shouldn’t be having it so good?

Hang on a sec; maybe we are all getting paid a bit too much? Maybe that’s why prices in Ireland are so much dearer than everywhere else in Europe? Maybe it’s our high wage rates that are making our manufacturing uncompetitive? Maybe we’ve too many people employed in non-productive jobs? I’ve no wish to pick on the public sector; but what exactly do the 350,000 people working there all do?

But those are unfair questions. The Government looks after things like public sector recruitment and minimum wage rates. They’re to blame for our sky high costs. Sure you could hardly expect ordinary people to take a drop in wages or work a bit harder for less pay to make us more competitive and save our jobs, could you?

So it really is the Government’s fault after all. Thank god for that. For a moment I thought it might just be our fault; that we might have to share some part of the blame. Sure didn’t we vote the Government into office? Well some of us did. 857,000 of us gave a first preference vote to Fianna Fail. That’s it; they’re the ones to blame; all 857,000 0f them.

Then again, maybe it’s the Greens? They’re the Coalition partners that are keeping the two Brian’s in power. It’s their fault.

But what of those of us who didn’t vote? What responsibility does the headless chicken that was so busy chasing the Celtic Tiger’s tail, that he couldn’t find the time to vote, have for the mess we’re all in today? What about the lazy good for nothing that couldn’t be bothered to turn out in the General Election; what role did he play in creating this disaster that befalls us all?
Surely the absentees can’t be blamed, can they? Doesn’t not getting involved absolve you from all responsibility?

Like hell it does. We live in a democracy. People fought and died so we could have a say in what’s going on. The freedom to vote is as much a responsibility as it is a right. Sitting on the fence doesn’t excuse you from what’s going on all around you? You’re as culpable as if you were doing it yourself.

If we’re really honest; isn’t it time we stopped blaming the Government, stopped blaming the bankers and stopped blaming the property developers? While we’re at it, maybe we should stop blaming everyone else but ourselves? Perhaps it’s time all of us started taking some responsibility for what’s going on? Isn’t it about time we all stood up to be counted? Hiding out in the silent majority won’t improve things very much, will it?

So let each and everyone of us accept our share of responsibility for what’s going on, and let’s all play our part in helping to sort it out.

We’ve a new President in the United States. He’s been likened to John F Kennedy in that he has an honest desire to change things. Well JFK’s words might never have been more appropriate than they are today; “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what can you do for your country?”

It’s not someone else’s problem anymore; it’s yours. It’s your country they’re messing up, not someone else’s!

Copyright © David Jones, 2009

Are our leaders properly motivated to sort out our problems?

David Jones wonders whether the people in senior office are properly motivated to act in the county’s best interests...

What motivates the leaders of our society?

I don’t ask the question glibly; I ask it because I think it really matters.

Who is sorting out the economic mess we’re in? Who is charged with leading the country out of this recession? The answer is Government Ministers, senior civil servants, senior industrialists and senior trade union leaders. If these are the men and women who are responsible for taking us forward, what motivates them? If we knew that, then we might have an idea whether they’re likely to be taking us where we want to go to. Whether we like it or not, we’re forced to follow these top officials and executives, maybe we should have some idea therefore where they might be taking us.

Now I don’t profess to know anybody who could remotely be classified as a top exec, so I have no idea what motivates them on a personal level; but from an organisational perspective I reckon we’ve all got a pretty good idea of their priorities.

Let’s start with the politicians. They might claim otherwise, but they’re really only interested in getting re-elected. If they’re not then they aren’t doing their job properly. What good is an unelected politician? The next General Election is going to be take place sometime in the next three years. If this Government manages to hang for as long as they possibly can, June 2012 is the latest judgement day. Some might say that’s too long for a Government that seems to be stumbling from one crisis to the next. Party politics aside, three years isn’t very long given the seriousness of the situation that’s facing us.

It means our Government’s priorities are short term. At a time when we need people to take a long term view of things, the very people charged with setting strategy don’t really give a damn about what happens after 2012. They are motivated to make choices that have a three year impact. Borrowing policy is a classic example of how short term gain and long term benefit are in conflict with each other. Governments across the Western world are borrowing like crazy to prop up their ailing economies in the hope they can get things patched up before their next trip to the polls.

If they were taking a longer term view they’d be doing it completely differently. They’d be radically cutting back on public spending, (including reducing social welfare benefits and pruning the number of public sector employees), to reduce borrowings, and seriously reducing wage rates to improve competitiveness. They’d be reducing direct taxes to stimulate initiative and encourage employment, but increasing indirect taxes to conserve raw materials. They’d also be increasing interest rates to boost savings and pension funds. As far as I can see, this is the opposite of what they are actually doing.

What of the senior civil servants, what motivates them? If you run a not for profit organisation of any kind, your motivation is to make it grow in size. If you aren’t rewarded by profit, then the size of your income can only be related to the size of your organisation. The bigger the organisation you control, or the bigger the budget you have to spend, the larger your pay cheque is likely to be.

Once again we have a motivational dilemma. At the very time we need to be cutting back on public spending, the people charged with running the public sector are themselves motivated by the exact opposite agenda.

Ah, I hear you saying; at least our industrialists are motivated in the right way. It’s true, big and small businesses are motivated by profit, and that means cutting costs to the bone; but that inevitably means minimal employment. Not a good thing really is it, when we look at the massive number of people on the dole queues? We need businesses to be motivated to employ staff, not make people redundant. Obviously this isn’t something businesses can take on alone.

Government has to create the structure to reduce the cost of employing people so businesses can afford to keep people working. That means lower minimum wage rates, lower PRSI rates, lower council taxes and so on.

And so to the trade unions; surely they must have the right motivation. They have the interests of their members at heart, and therein lies the problem. Firstly the unions represent a relatively small number of people; they punch way above their weight. Secondly, they’re parochial; they represent vested interests. Their only interest is to get as much as they possibly can for their particular membership. They don’t represent the country’s workers; they don’t act in the national interest. Even worse, they’re selfish; they want more pay and better conditions for their members; when the country needs workers to take less pay and be more productive.

So it would seem we have a serious problem. The senior executives charged with getting us out of the mess we’re in; all seem to be motivated by goals and objectives that are in contradiction to the needs of the country.

Doesn’t augur too well for us does it.

Copyright © David Jones, 2009