Marvellous photo from botantic gardens in Sydney (picture says centennial gardens but I can pick out the Sky Tower in the background, so I think its a sub garden).
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Earth Hour 2009
Hopeing to earthhour myself later, will be looking out over the city from the top of Sidney Hill where I live to see if the major building do power off.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
5 Suggestions for Irish Recovery
1. STOP STOP STOP raising taxes, this is draining money from the economy and making things worse. Halt the plans to increase taxes. Reverse the disastrous pension levy and income levies. These are causing huge cost increases and job losses.
2. Remove entirely rent subsidy (which is permitting the greediest landlords to hugely hike rents for appalling properties) and replace with an equivalent direct payment increase evenly divided across all welfare recipients. This would remove the unfair discrimination against the majority who are paying mortgages not rent.
3. Stop otherwise increasing welfare - many recipients are already far better off than they would be on low paid wages.
4. Stop extra payments to TDs and high paid government posts. Pensions, expenses, bonuses, ridiculous and unnecessary expensive Paddies Day junkets etc. Cut "committees" by 2/3rds. Remove state agencies that duplicate the work of others - for example Equality Agency was not a bad move but it should have been abolished entirely but rolled most of its work into the Enployment Rights Agency (this protecting its principles). Remove FF cronies from state bodies and replace by existing civil servants.
5. Tax heavily any property not lived in for more than 3 months of the year to force owners of vacant homes to either sell or rent.
2. Remove entirely rent subsidy (which is permitting the greediest landlords to hugely hike rents for appalling properties) and replace with an equivalent direct payment increase evenly divided across all welfare recipients. This would remove the unfair discrimination against the majority who are paying mortgages not rent.
3. Stop otherwise increasing welfare - many recipients are already far better off than they would be on low paid wages.
4. Stop extra payments to TDs and high paid government posts. Pensions, expenses, bonuses, ridiculous and unnecessary expensive Paddies Day junkets etc. Cut "committees" by 2/3rds. Remove state agencies that duplicate the work of others - for example Equality Agency was not a bad move but it should have been abolished entirely but rolled most of its work into the Enployment Rights Agency (this protecting its principles). Remove FF cronies from state bodies and replace by existing civil servants.
5. Tax heavily any property not lived in for more than 3 months of the year to force owners of vacant homes to either sell or rent.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Cowen is winding down Ireland Inc
Cowen's so-called budget to increase taxes is yet another nail in the coffin of Ireland's rapidly decreasing finances. Not only do we remain one of the worst impacted financially by the crisis, Cowen's ham fisted 1980s style cutback and tax policies strive only to weaken the economy further as belts are tightened, people spend less (having less) and therefore even more businesses go to the wall.
Every other country in Europe, never mind half the world is pushing "stimulous" packages, not shutdown packages, which is effectively what the neo-facist party which masquerades as FF is currently doing. All while still remaining to pay one of the highest rates of social welfare in Europe, never mind the Eurozone. The only answer right now is to drop replacement rates so that people currently earning 300 a week no longer get a nice surprise when they lose their job only to discover they are actually better off, and the consequent shock for others who may get a lower paid job than the one they lost, only to discover to their horror they would actually be better off on welfare.
Until the government learns this, and learns to try to stimulate business rather than close down the economy, things will continue to rapidly worsen.
Every other country in Europe, never mind half the world is pushing "stimulous" packages, not shutdown packages, which is effectively what the neo-facist party which masquerades as FF is currently doing. All while still remaining to pay one of the highest rates of social welfare in Europe, never mind the Eurozone. The only answer right now is to drop replacement rates so that people currently earning 300 a week no longer get a nice surprise when they lose their job only to discover they are actually better off, and the consequent shock for others who may get a lower paid job than the one they lost, only to discover to their horror they would actually be better off on welfare.
Until the government learns this, and learns to try to stimulate business rather than close down the economy, things will continue to rapidly worsen.
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