Rip Off Ireland – Jumping on the Bandwagon

It’s been quite amusing to follow some of the “backlash” from Eddie Hobbs’ TV series. Hobbs raised some very valid points and has generated a lot of public and media attention in the “aftermath” of his series’ airing on RTE

I wouldn’t want to criticise all of the media followups, but I do find some of the headlines and commentary quite amusing. Judging by some people’s reactions you would almost be led to believe that Hobbs was some form of economic messiah.
Yes – he made valid points but he wasn’t the first person to point out some of the inherent weaknesses in the current Irish economy and society. What can be amusing is watching politicians trying to either explain away the arguments or cash in on them for their own gain (excuse the pun).
Since the advent of the Euro there have been quite a few complaints in Eurozone countries related to what could best be described as opportunistic inflation.
Milan, for example, was never a particularly cheap city to live in, however post-Euro pricing differences were in excess of the currency conversion or any related “rounding”. A lot of retailers used the changeover to do more than merely “round up” the prices, but to also tack on a price increase.
In Ireland they claim that the inflation is due to a “high wage” economy. My question would be very much of the “chicken and egg” variety. It’s a “catch 22”. Higher prices mean that you have to have higher wages, but higher wages also mean that you can charge higher prices. So, which came first?
How can you explain the rise in propery prices (not values) nationwide?
In 1994 I viewed a house in a village in east Cork. At the time the house was on the market for approximately thirty thousand punts. The same house, without any significant alterations or improvements, recently sold for approximately two hundred and fifty thousand euro.
It is true to say that the Irish economy is in a very different state now to what it was in the early 1990s, but does that explain everything?
The cost of doing business in Ireland is not falling.
The cost of living in Ireland is rising.