Pat Kenny's new show

Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree Purple :).

Never could grasp how quite a number of people describe Lenihan as intelligent. As for impressive, the mind boggles............ Can't remember the last time I found an Irish Politican impressive.
 
At least Lenihan had the guts to show up and he seems to have known what went before in the show and what he was in for.

He certainly put on a brave front and spoke impressively but there were some very good counter-arguments and not just from O'Toole and Dunphy.

Protection of the banking structure is obviously crucial but whether this should involve the proctection of all banks is a moot point.

O'Toole and Dunphy may have no banking or economic background but what about the credibility of those who do? What about all the banks' economic cheerleaders who spoke about the "soft landing" for the property market? Should we really be expected now to accept their views on NAMA?

Purple said:
Browne is utterly biased and has no credibility.
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And as for Browne being biased, so what? So is every banker in the country but we're being asked to believe that they changed spots and are now acting primarily in the national interest. What about their credibility?

And the less said about Tom Parlon the better.

How can Joe Public possiblly know who to believe in these circumstances?
 
Apparently it's about the Public v Private Sector tonight, with half and half in the audience. Should get fairly heated!
 
Well, that would ease some of the frustration and then maybe we could all start talking sensibly to each other.
 
Turned it off after Pat went to the audience when C McCarthy had finished speaking.

It was a free for all! Uncomfortable viewing. The ambulance driver did himself nor the profession he represents any favours.
 
Cayne said:
...The ambulance driver did himself nor the profession he represents any favours.
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Have to disagree with that. The "paramedic" laid it out more or less exactly - what his earnings are, how much his pension is worth, and what his job entails e.g. picking up body parts after car crashes, pulling needles out of drug addicts etc.

However the "well heeled" private sector chap wouldn't reveal how much he earned but would only say that his salary was down by 50% and that god forbid he was now earning less than €100K!!!
 
Cayne said:
Turned it off after Pat went to the audience when C McCarthy had finished speaking.

It was a free for all! Uncomfortable viewing. The ambulance driver did himself nor the profession he represents any favours.
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Yeah it was pretty poor. My favourite quote came from the teacher who said that her salary increases didn't cause inflation, they just chased it. Hopefully she is not teaching economics. Any chance she will accept her wages chasing deflation. Don't think so.

Do be honest I have given up caring anymore. I am beat. Listening to the teachers union this morning talking about how they will only schedule parent/teacher meetings during normal school hours as a way of protest was the last straw. Let the outside bodies come in and run the Country. I don't have kids so I don't have to worry about inflicting decades of economic misery on them. Just have to worry about protecting my own job. Its obviously every man for himself.
 
Sunny said:
Yeah it was pretty poor. My favourite quote came from the teacher who said that her salary increases didn't cause inflation, they just chased it. Hopefully she is not teaching economics. Any chance she will accept her wages chasing deflation. Don't think so.
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Yes good point, and not a word of benchmarking :D As for the ERSI report showing current earnings in the public sector as opposed to private, whats dat?
 
Sunny said:
Do be honest I have given up caring anymore. I am beat. Let the outside bodies come in and run the Country. I don't have kids so I don't have to worry about inflicting decades of economic misery on them. Just have to worry about protecting my own job. Its obviously every man for himself.
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Thats exactly it. Every man for himself now. I turned it off shortly after McCarthy left because it became a farce and Pat didn't handle it well. McCarthy looked shocked at the way people just weren't getting it. He was being personally blamed for making suggestions to the govt on how we can plug the massive budget deficit and slow down our out-of-control borrowings.
 
I thought it was very good.

Eddie Hobbs came across as very defensive and kept trying to interrupt people.

Seems that a lot of private sector workers on here just 'switched off' rather than listening to the public sector workers having a say.
 
Overall thought it was very poor. McCarthy as always bores me to tears. The audience as usual seem to be generously sprinkled with people who are in denial of the seriousness of our economic situation. The only ingredient missing from last nights show was an utterly clueless journalist like John Waters or Nell McCafferty.
 
demoivre said:
Overall thought it was very poor. McCarthy as always bores me to tears. The audience as usual seem to be generously sprinkled with people who are in denial of the seriousness of our economic situation. The only ingredient missing from last nights show was an utterly clueless journalist like John Waters or Nell McCafferty.
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The audience was divided equally between public and private sector workers. I agree that the ambulance driver was a bit over emotional but thought the rest of the public sector workers came across well. I thought most of the private sector workers also came across well, apart from the guy who has taken a 50% cut and is now earning 'less than 100k'.
I wasn't impressed with McCarthy, I have to say, and had really thought I would be when I heard he was going to be on.
 
I though Pat handled the whole thing very poorly. Salaries are not the issue in the PS. The NUMBER of people getting the salaries are the issue.
Private sector workers understand that if you cannot pay the wages, salaries get cut initally and then people get fired. It's awful but true.
I was quite shocked that nobody thought of saying that to the public sector. It's about time we started cutting numbers to make budget.

Oh and I must say that this union line that X% of the public sector earn less than €30K has to be challenged. Most of those on less than €30K work 3 day weeks. It's not the 37-40 hour week that is expected.
 
They seemed to avoid the elephant in the room - the cost of social welfare.

The graphic they put up with % of expenditure showed that the government is giving more money to people who are not working than people employed inthe public sector. This is utter madness.

Another point that seemed to be brushed over was that the public sector pay cuts seem to be well in excess of those in the economy. They conceded that the economy will constrict by 5.7%, yet the public sector workers received a 7-8% pay cut earlier this year and are facing another or similar magnitude in the Budget.

For someone who is a financial expert, Eddie Hobbs was very unknowledgeable about the most common levels of pension contributions and benefits in both public and private sector employments. I think he was way of the mark on both counts.
 
I though Pat handled the whole thing very poorly. Salaries are not the issue in the PS. The NUMBER of people getting the salaries are the issue.
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Well said. Its the fact that the Government is going to cut some programmes, and already has, but the staff working in these areas will still be employed with little or nothing to do and staff working in functioning areas will have to take a pay cut to keep these unnecessary people in work.

I think that the Government has taken a decision not to lay off any public sector workers because it is worried about unemployment. This is a very dangerous short term gain long term pain strategy.
 
csirl said:
Another point that seemed to be brushed over was that the public sector pay cuts seem to be well in excess of those in the economy. They conceded that the economy will constrict by 5.7%, yet the public sector workers received a 7-8% pay cut earlier this year and are facing another or similar magnitude in the Budget.
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But the 7-8% was on the gross. After tax relief it is in reality a 3.5%-4% reduction of take home pay. And this money will be given to the employee anyway when he/she retires.

Hardly a pay cut. A pay deferral would be a more appropriate term.
 
I thought the show was a reminder of just how impossible the task ahead looks. Probably only a matter of time before the IMF get involved...
 
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