Comments on: The soft approach to wealth http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-soft-approach-to-wealth The website of economist, author and broadcaster, David McWilliams Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:03:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 By: John http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33814 John Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:29:59 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33814 If this is true i will be loaded :)) Anyone that reads your website is already a thinker so you are clapping your readers on ther back. Well done. We deserve it. If this is true i will be loaded :))

Anyone that reads your website is already a thinker so you are clapping your readers on ther back.

Well done. We deserve it.

]]> By: dc http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33507 dc Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:45:07 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33507 Well put David.The only problem you have in Ireland is to get people to use their cerebrum. The hardest thing for any person to do is think it eats up more calories than any other form of physical work or excercise. We have in Ireland some great entrepreneurs and thinkers big and small put there are to little of them ,why? 1. The Education system is old fashioned still on the lines of get the permanent pensionable job ,don't risk it . 2. An inbuilt fear of failure and insecurity because of what people might think in Irelands very parochial society(its amazing when the Irish immigrate how the entrepreneur comes out in them) 3 No incentive high taxes ,rents ,rates , labour costs,Long Hours small reward and most important the bureaucratic bullshit you have to put up with (would be better of in the Public service like 22% of the population,can earn €45000 to €1500000 for working 38 hr week with little or no responsibility and guaranteed a nice pay rise every year because Bertie loves us). 4 Banks in Ireland dont like soft economics it has no walls or roof no bricks or mortar 5 The Government turned its back on innovation in favour of construction and put no money or little money into research and development for indigenous Irish tech and bio companies (so when our bright young people go for help to create and develop their meet with gombeens in enterprise boards that have not a clue what there on about and don't believe them anyway,because most of them have been public sectors workers all there life and know nothing about real life commerce and can't even calculate their own personal tax. 6.If people try to take on sectors where the government are making a pigs ear out and know that they can provide a better service and profit from it the government of the day hates it because they know they will start to loose control and will use every propaganda stunt to disrupt and stop it. 7 People in Ireland find it hard to get away from the welfare state mentality,it is inbreed in our psyche by our mothers and fathers ,and has been reinforced even more so by this present government with all the easy handouts to public servants, single mothers, fassers,dolers etc so why should they think, Bertie and the lads will take care of it anyways. 8. Irish people in the last 6 years think the Sun goes round Ireland and we are the center of the universe and if you dare to think or question it you will end up like Galileo.They have got lazy and complacent and feel that there is no reason to think or innovate our cousin the Yank will look after us. Sorry for ranting on got a bit sidetracked Well put David.The only problem you have in Ireland is to get people to use their cerebrum.
The hardest thing for any person to do is think it eats up more calories than any other form of physical work or excercise.
We have in Ireland some great entrepreneurs and thinkers big and small put there are to little of them ,why?
1. The Education system is old fashioned still on the lines of get the permanent pensionable job ,don’t risk it .
2. An inbuilt fear of failure and insecurity because of what people might think in Irelands very parochial society(its amazing when the Irish immigrate how the entrepreneur comes out in them)
3 No incentive high taxes ,rents ,rates , labour costs,Long Hours small reward and most important the bureaucratic bullshit you have to put up with (would be better of in the Public service like 22% of the population,can earn €45000 to €1500000 for working 38 hr week with little or no responsibility and guaranteed a nice pay rise every year because Bertie loves us).
4 Banks in Ireland dont like soft economics it has no walls or roof no bricks or mortar
5 The Government turned its back on innovation in favour of construction and put no money or little money into research and development for indigenous Irish tech and bio companies (so when our bright young people go for help to create and develop their meet with gombeens in enterprise boards that have not a clue what there on about and don’t believe them anyway,because most of them have been public sectors workers all there life and know nothing about real life commerce and can’t even calculate their own personal tax.
6.If people try to take on sectors where the government are making a pigs ear out and know that they can provide a better service and profit from it the government of the day hates it because they know they will start to loose control and will use every propaganda stunt to disrupt and stop it.
7 People in Ireland find it hard to get away from the welfare state mentality,it is inbreed in our psyche by our mothers and fathers ,and has been reinforced even more so by this present government with all the easy handouts to public servants, single mothers, fassers,dolers etc so why should they think, Bertie and the lads will take care of it anyways.
8. Irish people in the last 6 years think the Sun goes round Ireland and we are the center of the universe and if you dare to think or question it you will end up like Galileo.They have got lazy and complacent and feel that there is no reason to think or innovate our cousin the Yank will look after us.
Sorry for ranting on got a bit sidetracked

]]> By: John mcDermott http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33480 John mcDermott Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:53:08 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33480 The softest approach of all to getting rich has to be the PPS schemes now increasing in popularity with profligate governments throughout Europe.Is the inventor of the Public -Private partnership scheme funding by syndicates like the Macquarie bank (Australia) a genius (whoever he is). Is the concept a brilliant new idea or a "Ponzi scheme" (as described by some american financial analysts)? At present the airwaves are rippling with news of the pending construction of some 30 badly needed schools in various parts of Ireland. What is not mentioned is the fact that at a time of unprecedented prosperity and tax revenue, the state are not using any of this revenue stream to improve our infrastructure, and build the new roads, tolls, public offices, schools or hospitals so badly needed. Who then you may ask is building them.Well its a politicians dream scheme.Its like buying a new house.one normally gete a loan from the bank, pays it off and in 40 years you are the proud owner of a house.! However in the Public- private partnership you dont even have to borrow the money, the investor builds the house and rents it to you in perpetuity.!Check out the web site http://www.macquarie.com/mpfi/index.htm for starters and be enlightened. Syndicates like the Australian Macquarie bank are the new owners of Ireland.ie. They will rent the country back to Fianna Fail on your behalf, ad infinitum, with no doubt, regular rent reviews to ensure that Macquarie continue to pay their current investors a whopping 20% annual dividend on their cash.The children who will occupy these new schools will still be paying rent on them in 30 years time.!! Where, you may ask, is the unprecedented revenue stream being spent? We would love to know too. Anybody with that confidential information please tell me.Perhaps its not availible on a Freedom of Information request.? For my money the Public -Private Partnership is genius.A pawnbroker only gets a loan of an asset for a few months,and charges interest on it until it is returned,or sells it off quickly if unredeemed.This scheme is better, because you finance the project and rent it out for generations- and then perhaps sell it to the tenant after 30 years for a huge sum of money-as in the case of the Westlink toll bridge, for example.Pure genius. The softest approach of all to getting rich has to be the PPS schemes now increasing in popularity with profligate governments throughout Europe.Is the inventor of the Public -Private partnership scheme funding by syndicates like the Macquarie bank (Australia) a genius (whoever he is). Is the concept a brilliant new idea or a “Ponzi scheme” (as described by some american financial analysts)?
At present the airwaves are rippling with news of the pending construction of some 30 badly needed schools in various parts of Ireland. What is not mentioned is the fact that at a time of unprecedented prosperity and tax revenue, the state are not using any of this revenue stream to improve our infrastructure, and build the new roads, tolls, public offices, schools or hospitals so badly needed.
Who then you may ask is building them.Well its a politicians dream scheme.Its like buying a new house.one normally gete a loan from the bank, pays it off and in 40 years you are the proud owner of a house.! However in the Public- private partnership you dont even have to borrow the money, the investor builds the house and rents it to you in perpetuity.!Check out the web site http://www.macquarie.com/mpfi/index.htm for starters and be enlightened. Syndicates like the Australian Macquarie bank are the new owners of Ireland.ie. They will rent the country back to Fianna Fail on your behalf, ad infinitum, with no doubt, regular rent reviews to ensure that Macquarie continue to pay their current investors a whopping 20% annual dividend on their cash.The children who will occupy these new schools will still be paying rent on them in 30 years time.!!
Where, you may ask, is the unprecedented revenue stream being spent? We would love to know too. Anybody with that confidential information please tell me.Perhaps its not availible on a Freedom of Information request.? For my money the Public -Private Partnership is genius.A pawnbroker only gets a loan of an asset for a few months,and charges interest on it until it is returned,or sells it off quickly if unredeemed.This scheme is better, because you finance the project and rent it out for generations- and then perhaps sell it to the tenant after 30 years for a huge sum of money-as in the case of the Westlink toll bridge, for example.Pure genius.

]]> By: john http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33474 john Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:41:39 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33474 "Britain, Germany and France had these resources and, for years, they were the most successful nations in Europe. Today, hard power matters less. Take Russia, for example. It still has more natural resources than any other country on earth, yet today its population is falling. Russians see through the vanities of hard power, and have decided either to emigrate or stop having children. Hard power guarantees nothing." I would not agree with this statement, britain, germany and france were some of the most successful nations in the world not just because they had natural resources but also because they developed the know how to use these resources to develop their countries and change the whole world. They used their "soft power" to develop their hard power. If natural resources on their own result in hard power why is most of africa so powerless, they were used by the nations with the hard power, namely britain germany and france. Basically technical know how which you might posess but which another country does not posess is hard power. But technical know how is also soft power. For example america is one of the most successful nations on earth it used its soft power to develop its hard power. You can bet on it that some of its brightest engineers and scientist from silicon valley end up working for the pentagon and defence companies. The same happens in britain and france. Basically soft power and hard power are not seperate entities but are linked and the most succesful countries in the world have both. “Britain, Germany and France had these resources and, for years, they were the most successful nations in Europe. Today, hard power matters less. Take Russia, for example. It still has more natural resources than any other country on earth, yet today its population is falling. Russians see through the vanities of hard power, and have decided either to emigrate or stop having children. Hard power guarantees nothing.”

I would not agree with this statement, britain, germany and france were some of the most successful nations in the world not just because they had natural resources but also because they developed the know how to use these resources to develop their countries and change the whole world. They used their “soft power” to develop their hard power. If natural resources on their own result in hard power why is most of africa so powerless, they were used by the nations with the hard power, namely britain germany and france. Basically technical know how which you might posess but which another country does not posess is hard power. But technical know how is also soft power. For example america is one of the most successful nations on earth it used its soft power to develop its hard power. You can bet on it that some of its brightest engineers and scientist from silicon valley end up working for the pentagon and defence companies. The same happens in britain and france. Basically soft power and hard power are not seperate entities but are linked and the most succesful countries in the world have both.

]]> By: paddy cullen http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33473 paddy cullen Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:40:57 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33473 Well written david .... Well written david ….

]]> By: John mcDermott http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33468 John mcDermott Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:00:03 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33468 David,You say that " Tony O’Reilly, Tony Ryan and Sean Quinn have much more in common with Neil Jordan, Colm Toibin and Pat McCabe than either group imagines." Tony Ryans main claim to fame was to be the first to try and break a government supported, European wide, cartel/ monopoly activity .i.e. the airline industry.He succeeded because he found the right man,Miichael OLeary. Ditto with Sean Quinn who saw the same situation in the cement monopoly of Cement Roadstone,just as he now sees another opportunity in the private health insurance monopoly- the V.H.I.monopoly. I think half the nation saw these opportunities, which were hardly "Eureka!" moments. It simply takes somebody with a lot of capital- and a lot of determination- to make the breakthrough. David,You say that ” Tony O’Reilly, Tony Ryan and Sean Quinn have much more in common with Neil Jordan, Colm Toibin and Pat McCabe than either group imagines.”
Tony Ryans main claim to fame was to be the first to try and break a government supported, European wide, cartel/ monopoly activity .i.e. the airline industry.He succeeded because he found the right man,Miichael OLeary.
Ditto with Sean Quinn who saw the same situation in the cement monopoly of Cement Roadstone,just as he now sees another opportunity in the private health insurance monopoly- the V.H.I.monopoly.
I think half the nation saw these opportunities, which were hardly “Eureka!” moments.
It simply takes somebody with a lot of capital- and a lot of determination- to make the breakthrough.

]]> By: Philip http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33439 Philip Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:00:25 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33439 Dave, Hmmm...would not shun hard power that easily Soft and hard power go together - pretty well like the brain and the hand. One helps the other. Ask any practiced artist or practised anything for that matter. Improvement and excellence only comes from the interaction of the two. You need the tools and the resources. Russia split the two by sticking a ridiculous bureacracy between the two. Intellects relegated to chess playing on one side and coal mines wasting away on the other. The bureacracy absorbed the soft power and emasculated it. And you see the same thing anywhere else they decide to confuse regulation with strangulation. Dave,

Hmmm…would not shun hard power that easily

Soft and hard power go together – pretty well like the brain and the hand. One helps the other. Ask any practiced artist or practised anything for that matter. Improvement and excellence only comes from the interaction of the two. You need the tools and the resources.

Russia split the two by sticking a ridiculous bureacracy between the two. Intellects relegated to chess playing on one side and coal mines wasting away on the other. The bureacracy absorbed the soft power and emasculated it. And you see the same thing anywhere else they decide to confuse regulation with strangulation.

]]> By: vince http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33433 vince Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:56:34 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33433 The people with the best and more flexible brains is where the future stands. The people with the best and more flexible brains is where the future stands.

]]> By: Technology and People - Ten Predictions for Post Tiger Ireland http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33419 Technology and People - Ten Predictions for Post Tiger Ireland Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:45:25 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33419 [...] David McWilliams can take credit for the phrase ‘Celtic Tiger’, can I be first to use the phrase [...] [...] David McWilliams can take credit for the phrase ‘Celtic Tiger’, can I be first to use the phrase [...]

]]> By: Paul http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth/comment-page-1#comment-33418 Paul Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:22:13 +0000 http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2007/10/07/the-soft-approach-to-wealth#comment-33418 Indeed. Both groups are creatives. I saw an artist in a gallery recently who sported a baseball cap which said ... "Why wait? Create!" Any entrepreneur would proudly wear that. Indeed. Both groups are creatives. I saw an artist in a gallery recently who sported a baseball cap which said …

“Why wait? Create!”

Any entrepreneur would proudly wear that.

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