So what is extreme in post Celtic tiger Ireland? The word extremists has been bandied about a lot in the last few weeks. Mainly in the context of the rise of Sinn Fein and the anti-water charges protests. But the labelling merits a little more attention and analysis. And lets be honest - we wont get it from the right wing media. In fact it is this same Denis O Brien controlled media doing the labelling. So an analysis. Lets start first with the Right2Water campaign. Water is a precious resource we all need to survive. It falls from the sky in abundance. Yes it has to be treated but we pay for this through our taxes. And we do so to ensure all citizens regardless of income have access to good quality drinking water. The campaign also believes that our water infrastructure should remain in public ownership away from the greedy hands of the profiteers. Sound good - but heres the snag. The political right and their friends in the media dont agree, they think thats extreme and heres why. Progressive taxation is an anathema to them. The notion that the wealthy should pay more taxes so that the poor pay less is radical. So they developed an ideology called neo-liberalism. Its principle objective is to turn progressive taxation on its head. Instead of providing health, education, transport and now water as a public and equal right funded through progressive taxation we introduce indirect and regressive stealth taxes. This way the poor and the low paid pay more proportionally and the wealthy pay less. This is called liberalisation and the pay as you use principle. Not a hint of extremism here. Now I turn to Sinn Fein and the economy generally. But first a gentle reminder of what is so offensive and extreme. In this state poverty is at an all time high. Children go to bed hungry and to school not properly clothed. Older people struggle to keep the house warm. Thousands sleep rough in our streets in the coldest of nights. Children with special needs constantly fight for educational resources and people with disabilities for support and dignity. Young people have seen their dole cut to the bone. Hundreds of thousands shown the door and scattered to the four corners of the globe. Families struggle to pay their Celtic tiger mortgages on austerity Ireland wages. Many more struggle to put food on the table. As I write many homes across the state are without heat due to empty oil tanks and empty pockets. And yet in this same Ireland another Ireland exists. The rich are getting richer. According to the ESRI the wealthiest 10% have seen their incomes increase in post Celtic tiger Ireland. Big corporations get tax breaks and fail to pay even the extremely low corporate tax rates. Wealth cannot be taxed - that is against basic economics dont you know. And its, well, extreme. Four budgets from this Government and not one red cent extra in taxation sought from the top earners. And lets not forget our developer friends and the banks. After all they caused the crash and will surely pay the heaviest price, right? No, wrong. NAMA was established to free the greedy developers from their excessive loans. And the banks who gave them outrageous loans from money provided by speculative bondholders - they get all the money. We empty the states national pension reserve fund and we borrow even more money to ensure our bondholder friends get paid in full. And not only get back their investment but with interest on the back of the sacrifices of the working class. But this is good economics and how the system works - again no hint of extremism. So lets summarise. To want to tax the wealthy a little more and ensure corporations pay their fair share in taxes to avoid a child with special needs or a person with a disability getting the appropriate supports is extreme. But to force taxpayers to pay for the gamble of speculative bondholders and bankers is better than using our reserve fund to invest in jobs, health and education. Im confused - so which is extreme again? Answers on a postcard to the right wing media please.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 21:05:02 +0000
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