Grandad is revolting
Grandad October 17th, 2008
I haven’t commented much on politics lately.
Frankly, I have been too disgusted to even think about the subject.
I have calmed a little [not much – just a little] and am trying to put my thoughts in some coherent form. Unfortunately, all the words that come to mind are too obscene even for this site.
The people have Ireland have been fucked over royally. What is worse, the rape continues.
For the last decade or so, money has been pouring into this country at such a rate that no one really knew what to do with it. Year after year, we heard of massive budget surpluses that ran into billions.
Suppose, just for a moment, that oil was discovered on my land. Ignore, for the sake of argument that the government would take it from me and just hand it over to Shell or someone. What would I do with all that money that is pouring into the coffers? Would I spend every penny of it rebuilding my garden, and buying flash cars? Or would I have a modicum of sense and put most of it into something productive in the sure knowledge that the oil is going to dry up some day?
All those billions are gone. They have been poured into office blocks and housing estates that no one can afford. The boom is over and there isn’t a penny left.
What have we got to show for it? Apart from the empty office blocks, we still have school buildings that should be on the condemned list. We still have a health service that is more likely to kill than to cure. We have respite centres for the disabled that are closing due to lack of funding. The one thing we don’t have is money in the bank. In fact we are now pouring money into the banks to prop them up – money that we don’t have in the first place.
Then the showers of shites who got us into this mess turn around and tell us we have to be taxed on every penny of our income. The have the utter gall to appeal to us saying that ‘we are all in this together’. Bollox. Those shites, the bankers and the builders, all of whom made fortunes with our money are the ones who are ‘all in this together’.
What I want to know is what the ‘government’ doing about the bankers? I haven’t heard any heads rolling. I haven’t even heard a wrist being slapped. The builders, who are bloated with our money are being asked to cough up, but at the same rate as the rest of us. In fact they have even been given some extra financial help, so they can carry on getting fatter.
If Ireland were a private company, the management not only would have been sacked by now, they would be in gaol for gross incompetence and fraud. They would never get another job, and certainly would not be looking forward to big pensions that would make your average salary look like pocket money.
What really sickens me is that I know that they will be elected back in next time. Ireland will suffer from its usual collective memory loss. There will be pathetic little bribes that will sway the ignorant voters.
There will be cries of ‘there is no viable alternative’ of course.
Wrong.
Anarchy would be better than the system we have at the moment.
- Politics
- Comments(36)
Subscribe to audio
Great post Grandad.
I’ve tried to write numerous posts on this subject over the week but they haven’t adequately expressed the outrage I have been aiming for. To post them would be to do the whole mess a disservice.
Could we send the children to schools in the empty office blocks?
A very focused and arresting diatribe.
Its the same over here – we just let them get on with it. Freedom of speech went away a decade ago and nobody gets excited enough to do anything !
We should all stand up for our rights – but of course, in the long run… we won’t!
Damn straight. Bunch of banjo playing bastards
Builders owe bankers €34bn – budget generates €2bn – do the maths……….
TBA – To be honest, the above doesn’t adequately express my outrage. What I need is to witness a good old fashioned lynch mob. Nice idea about the schools though!
Radge – Not arresting enough. Not enough court cases pending.
Kate – *sigh* I know. As I said, there will be a pre-election amnesia here and there will be no mention of the total fiasco our glorious leaders have created.
Thrifty – I wouldn’t trust ‘em with a banjo. I wouldn’t trust ‘em with a yoyo.
Flirty – You mean we only have another 17 years of this crap ahead of us? Woopee.
I went to an ATM this morning to take out some money. Insufficient funds, it said. Are they talking about me or them?
Jack – If it was for more than €50, then it was probably them. They are running on a tight budget. We’re running on a bastard of a budget.
Jack – I forgot to ask…. Did you press the ‘I’m a builder’ key? You could have withdrawn any amount you liked then.
Heh heh, never thought of that one! Next time.
What a bitch of a budget, I don’t think I’ve been kicked that hard ever before. I can’t drive to work without paying, I can’t even park my car in a company slot without paying, all my expenses are up and the only thing I took solice in, i.e. a couple of glasses of wine has been hit.
You’d think instead of taxing us 1%, they’d decide to tax themselves 65%…?
Hmmm
maybe you need to go on holiday…again
or bag more than your limit of tourists
i mean, you’re almost curmudgeonly
; ‘ )
TheChrisD – Why don’t they just introduce a 65% rate above say €150,000? Too many hands in back pockets?
Doc – A holiday sounds like a damned good idea. Tourists are very thin on the ground [most die from poverty within 2 days of landing here]. And I’m glad you say almost!
Sounds just like what’s going on here in the state of Vermont. I’m of the mind lately that all the old goats of politics, town and state, those idiots and morons who do their best to keep any change for the better from ever happening at all, those corrupted blood suckers that seem to have been elected forever should all be ousted from their respected seats and only young, native Vermonters should be allowed to fill their seats…
…sigh…
…and there’s still supposed to be some sort of pot of gold at the end of some rainbow somewhere but I actually had the end of one sitting in my lap while driving down the highway several years ago and I didn’t see no pot of gold sitting on top of my legs then.
As I always say to folks who bitch about politicians. Get involved. Start at the local level. Stop complaining Grandad and have a go. I did and look where it got me.
TT – At my age it’s easier said than done. Now, if I were forty years younger…..
Where did your ‘have a go’ get you? Are you really George W using a pseudonym? I did have my suspicions.
I feel your rage Grandad. And I hope to see you outside the Dail on Wed at 12.30 to protest against the little shits taking medical cards away from the over 70′s. I’ll be there to show how angry I feel about this. I wish more people took action and brought this government down.
Token reduction in salaries by politicians – why aren’t the bankers being asked to contribute with a reduction in their overhiked salaries? At least at the senior level – the ones who got us into this mess.
It got me neverwhere. My favorite tee shirt has a large W followed by a picture of an anchor.
Spag Hoops are likewise almost curmedgeoned. Funny that the budget didn’t include an emigration tax…..[wistfully recalling my two-fingered salute from the Stenaline viewing deck to our FF Gov back in d'eighties and wondering what posessed me to ever return]. An Irish solution to…..
Be careful Ireland, remember they (politico’s and the talking heads) want to try and ratify the Lisbon Treaty again, next thing you know they will pave over Ireland and make it a parking lot!!!!
damn, just about the time i forget about it for a minute, you have to go bring it back up…i did post about the situation over here. i was pissed and just let it flow, however incoherently. i plan on doing it again and again until either something is done or until they start following me around and parking outside my house watching me like they did in the 60′s. if they start doing that then i’ll have to stop…because of the kid, but not before the kid fully understands what, why, who, etc.
John O – you obviously havn’t yet visited our M50 motorway. Ah well…[opens overtaxed bottle of wine and 20 Marlboro and sinks into despondency and diversion....]
Hear hear! We had the strongest economy in the world, and what do we have to show for it in the end? Lousy goverenment should all be fired, or fined…now there’s an idea, fining them for every election promise they break. That would bring in some money!
Spaghetti Hoop- I have and I got right off as soon as I could, reminded me too much of I4 around Orlando, FL. (going to open my own bottle of highly taxed Jameson, check the crop and escape in a book)
Ah, then a toast befits. Mid-chapter John O.
To the demise of capitalism?
or Grandad’s revolution? [and I aint talking about the fringe one with the tourists]
sláinte / cheers
Welcome Palindromic and Mary Rose!
I want yiz all to dust off whatever weapons you have lying around in the attic. Whether it’s an old 1798 pike or a scud missile, we’ll all meet at Mulligans pub on Monday morning. Time to take this fecking government down and hang ‘em from the Spire.
I’ll even give Biffo 10% more rope. That should make him happy.
Have a read of this, the “goodbye” letter of a hedge fund manager who made millions predicting the whole sub-prime mess; he lays into the …
” ..low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.”
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2008/10/17/hedge-fund-manager-goodbye-and-f-you
Tom
Tom – What baffles me about our lot is that they are reasonably well educated. The only things they lack are morals, integrity and intelligence. Yer Man above must have been referring to them?
How come people become anti-capitalist in a crisis?
Welcome Friedman! A bit of a sweeping statement? I was always anti-capitalist!
milton, i thought you died 2 years ago? what we have now is an example of what happens when the free market system is left to the devices of it’s chosen few. greed and speculation.
Prin – It’s amazing how people come to life on this site?
Just having a turn in my grave with all this ‘revolting’ stuff going on.
Sorry, Milton – I called you Friedman. Very rude of me…
@Milton
As we get older (but obviously not dead’r) we tend to become less trusting in the abilities of “our betters”, i.e we either know most of them, or were “them” and realise that the whole shower (including ourselves) have not advanced too much beyond the snotty nosed idiots we all were in “baby infants”. Except, at least in my day, the junior classes were not allowed to run’a'muck with other people’s dreams and worldly goods.
Tom
oops i forgot nobel laureate economists can come back to grace us with their wisdom from time to time…