Archive for February, 2006

Throughout the 16th century, a monumental mass of stolen gold sailed across the Atlantic from Latin America to Spain

Property booms do not so much create wealth as redistribute it. In the past few years, the great Irish housing frenzy has done more to reallocate wealth in this country than any government initiative on tax and social welfare since the foundation of the State.

The transfer has been monumental. Arguably, we have to go back to Lenin’s persecution of the Kulaks to see one section of the population forced into giving so much of its wealth to another.

If an Aer Lingus jumbo was blown out of the sky in the morning, how would you react? How would we expect the government to react? We would expect leadership of the Rudolph Giuliani kind, as seen in the days after 9/11, wouldn�t we? We would expect to see all the powers of the state come down on the terrorists, both for justice and to prevent it happening again.

Even civil libertarians would probably not flinch at emergency legislation being pushed through the Dail to combat such a threat to our citizens.

Looking around at last night’s Valentine couples, gazing into each other’s eyes dreamily above the over-priced creme brule, it’s hard not to be romantic and imagine these relationships continuing, maybe leading to marriage and children.

As we are in the grips of a baby boom, this is highly likely. In the past eight years, the Irish birth rate has gone up by a quarter. This is without precedent in modern Europe.

Last week, you would have seen two very different images of the Muslim world. The first is the glossy ad for penthouses in the Gulf. You know the one: it features a huge palm tree development stretching out into the sea.

It looks impressive and, if the marketing is to be believed, all classes of celebrities have already signed up. The overall impression is one of prosperity, good times, jet-skis, lobster thermidor and security.

Do our inflation figures reflect the cost of living?

A few misguided individuals had apparently been suckered into a classic pyramid scheme where the price at the top is dependent on new mugs coming in at the bottom. Thousands of euro were lost.

On the panel are TCD academic and director of the Open Republic Institute, Constantin Gurdgiev; Sinn Féin councillor, Killian Forde; Polish-born TV presenter and marketing manager, Izabela Chudzicka and Larissa Nolan of the Sunday Independent.

There’s also musical satire from Clint Velour and soaring blues from singer-songwriter Shaz Oye.

Didyou realise that same-sex marriage could be central to our prosperity? In the years ahead, the more vibrant and flamboyant our gay scene, the more likely we are to thrive. Over the past week we have listened to many arguments, including those of the Taoiseach, on the merits of legalising gay marriage. However, we have heard precious little about the economics of gayness.