“Remember when the media, and then the government, announced that all the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill was gone, and then we all rejoiced because the troubles of those sad weathered Cajun dudes Anderson Cooper kept confronting us with were finally over, and then Pegasus came to my house and asked me if...
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“Virtually the entire economics profession insisted on ignoring the housing bubble as it expanded to ever more dangerous levels. Remarkably, even after the bursting of this bubble wrecked the economy and has given us the worst downturn in 70 years, most economists are still determined to ignore the bubble.” To Read this...
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“During the Greek debt crisis, we were constantly told that we weren’t Spain or Portugal or Italy, that the international markets were treating us differently, better, because we had taken the difficult fiscal decisions (i.e. spending cuts). This was despite the fact that the main indices showed otherwise, that we were competing with...
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More than a third of the 100,000 business assessed in a survey are at risk of collapsing. The figures also show that so far this year over €1 billion of unpaid debt has been left behind by companies that have gone into liquidation. To Read This Article: 38,000 firms ‘at risk’ of collapse,...
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“Strange how some things don’t get into the debate. For instance, the ESRI’s recent Recovery Scenarios judged the Government’s fiscal strategy a failure. It estimated that not only will the Government fail to bring public finances under control by 2014 (if we take the Maastricht guideline as the ‘control’ threshold), it will not...
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“One can only chuckle. Last year the pronouncements of rating agencies were treated as though they were written on Mount Sinai. Downgrades, or the threat of such, were interpreted by our high priests of deflation as demands to cut public spending. That’s what we did – big time; slashing public spending by nearly €9...
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“That anyone anymore takes these credit rating agencies seriously is a mystery – and not just to me. S&P, Moody’s, Fitch’s – aren’t these the same agencies that gave a big two-thumbs up to the sub-prime mortgage investments? Giving the credit derivatives based on these flawed assets the big green light? Weren’t these the...
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On 16th June 2010, Minister Conor Lenihan today announced details of new exploration opportunities in Irish waters – the “2011 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round”. The Minister also announced details of a new joint Ireland/Newfoundland-Labrador research project involving a plate reconstruction of the North Atlantic. The 2011 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round is an invitation for...
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“The scene is post-apocalyptic. Under a grey sky, two families play in the surf just off the beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana. To get to the beach, we walk past a red, plastic barrier fence that until very recently was there to keep people away from the oil-soaked area. Now, there are a...
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‘Another massive fish kill, this time in Louisiana, has alarmed scientists, fishers and environmentalists who believe they are caused by oil and dispersants. On Aug. 22, St. Bernard Parish authorities reported a huge fish kill at the mouth of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. “By our estimates there were thousands – and I’m...
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