Sure, aren’t we all delighted?

I DON’T know if you are as bad as I am when it comes to figures, official or otherwise but I cannot make head or tail of any of the economic statistics we have been given recently.
We have been told over the past week or more that the Christmas and New-Year retail sales’ figures were up and back to the good old days before the recession. We have also been told that tax revenues were up in December, employment figures were up and unemployment down.
Where in the name of NAMA do they get such figures? Government spokesmen have been at pains to point out that the Irish economy is on the mend, thatthere are green shoots appearing once more and that we have turned thecorner.
Now, wouldn’t we all love to believe all that? However, we were told the same things about three or four years ago by the late Brian Lenihan, God be good to him.
I was never any good at maths when I was going to school but I was nearly always able to put two and two together. I look around the corner that we are supposed to have turned and I see nothing but misery. Pubs that were once bright spots on the street have the shutters up and weeds growing around the doorway. (Perhaps those are the green shoots that they are talking about). I see barber shops and hairdressers closed down as people can no longer afford to pay for a simple haircut. Boutiques that opened with great local fanfare six months ago have had to close shop for lack ofcustomers.
Those are a few examples of the small business ventures on every street and corner up and down this country that have had to shut down over the past four years. I see no sign of them reopening. Then there are the big factories and other major projects that employed hundreds of workers and are now eye sores. Of course, there are the big and small building.
They show that the country has been spending far more than it was bringing in in tax and other revenues. I cannot argue against those figures but I can say I don’t know of any person today who is living beyond his or her means. We might have lost the run of ourselves during the years of the Celtic Tiger, as Enda Kenny might say when talking to his German friends but that is no longer the case on the ground. If I want to buy a new car or a new house that I cannot afford, the bank will no longer lend me the money. So even if I want to live beyond my means, the bank will no longer facilitate me.
We all understand the need for tough budgets, but what we do not understand is why the bulk of the burden must fall on those who are least able to bear it. The Government has steadfastly refused to take more in tax from those who can well afford to pay it. Their argument is that this would drive money out of the country and hinder investment.
This is the same argument we have heard from conservatives all over the world whether they are American right-wing Republicans, English Tories or Irish Fine Gael. They don’t seem to mind that their unfair austerity programmes are driving the brightest and the best out of our country and driving the economy into the ground.
What really gets my goat, though, is when Government ministers praise us all for our “courage” and our “bravery” in accepting the austerity they have poured down on us. We are pleased to play our part in helping this economy to recover while Government ministers still draw down bloated salaries that are the envy of European governments.
We are dancing for joy at the prospect of the property tax. Young mothers are delighted to be giving up so much of their child benefits for the good of the economy. Carers are so happy to give up their allowances so that bankers can continue to be paid their fat bonuses.
Go figure that out.