Yeah! pretty much agree with most of the comments above - tho to give the guy his credit he is pretty much the only one out there trying to make a fist of trying to explain the last 15 years or so (there is a distinct lack of commentary both verbal or otherwise on this - wonder why?)
You could argue it had a lot in common with George Lees' Boom - I believe they come to the same basic premise - that unless we start thinking about movin on economically , the whole edifice is being built on the property boom - shaky foundations. Personally I do find the categorisations and the jump from one arguement to another very very fast and the sometimes hard and fast way he has with stats when they suit him a bit much at times( Irelands inward legal migration rate from the Eastern European states is higher than France or Germany's - Well no s**t Dave! wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that neither have opened their employment borders to these states yet would it!)
While I personally found Lee's programme better (so far) , as regards basic economic arguement - I think that Mcwilliams style will appeal to far more people .
If I've learned anything in my life so far , its that the vast majority of people , despite all the protests to the contrary , love being categorised and stereotyped and put into groups and especially class - McWilliams does this with aplomb - his talent is he makes you feel you understand economics and all criticism above withstanding : the programme will definitely get folks who ,normally at the sight of a suit and a mention of economics would be watching sky at the drop of a hat , to tune in.
I got the book for christmas last year - read it in 2 days or so - passed it on to the old man - who has now passed it 5-6 times to his friends - all he could talk about was how he could recognise the various characters and subsets that McWilliams has in his arguements - the decklanders etc etc and to my amazement and shock , for the first time in all the time I have known him , we are having conversations about economics , the future ,politics etc etc - this from a man who before when asked about his political leanings would reply "its a secret ballot" and that would be it until the next election . I 've had similar conversations with his friends.
So ,even tho the book was a bestseller , Im quite sure Cecila Ahern has quite comfortably outsold him by a considerable margin - if the TV programme, which will hit a far wider audience , can get people talking and debating about the subjects he raises - well and good - he's done a public service and fair play to him.