Comments on: Time to get connected for the freelance future

By: Cosy consensus on tax - Sarah Carey « Where do we go from here

Cosy consensus on tax - Sarah Carey « Where do we go from here — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:52:29 +0000

[...] a snippet from David McWilliams. For Ireland, what is the point of having a well-educated workforce if no-one knows about anyone [...]

By: Mother of Three

Mother of Three — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:51:37 +0000

Have you visitied http://www.mysociety.org this UK organisation has set up a very effective website called theyworkforyou which allows ordinary people closely monitor what the politians are doing. mysociety.org have run very effective campaigns at increasing political and administrative accountability. Unfortunately they have not got the funds to set this up for Ireland. Any suggestions how we could get similar set up here in Ireland.

By: flexitimer

flexitimer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:00:33 +0000

Agree that future is freelance driven, ref HBR ‘dawn of the freelance economy’ circa 1998. That’s why I set up http://www.flexitimers.com – which is an Irish based freelance and project site which uses ‘match’ technology to connect employers to people with their required skills. All the best, Joy Redmond

By: JJ Tatten

JJ Tatten — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:51:15 +0000

Blueangel,

Happy St Patrick’s Day.

You appear to have mis-read my comment.

At no point did I denigrate personal initiative – I’ve run my own media business for the past 13 years – I am no stranger to initiative.

Neither did I denigrate personal networking – I denigrated the Emperor’s New Clothes concept of impersonal networking, as embodied by Linkedin, as a panacea to our economic ills.

I certainly did not present civil unrest as ‘an option’! Only a delusional fool would suggest such a thing. I merely highlighted the very real threat that civil unrest presents if we don’t come up with some ideas of substance.

If you’re interested in my ideas then you might care to look at the ideas section of this website.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:24:51 +0000

John a good 2000 sq.ft. house in Perth in most suburb’s costs about 300k in Euros present exchange rates.Family budgets vary depending on circumstances,but cost of living is cheaper than Ireland.Australia also keep an affordability index,i.e. average house price to average income and when mortgage repayments look like rising above 30% of disposable income,interest rates usually go up to dampen down house prices.Australia also have a Foreign Investment Board which helps prevent speculation on houses by foreigners i.e. a Foreigner has to get approval to even buy a house.New builds are usually approved as they support those employed in the construction industry, second hand houses have a stipulation where by the purchaser has to spend an amount equivallent to the purchase price on upgrading the property,also helps those employed in the building industry ( these measures are being relaxed a bit in the present climate) without labouring the point it’s fair to say that housing policy in Perth, is better planned and controlled than in Ireland,most people seem happy enough with it. On a Personal note my Family are constantly bemused by my affiliation to Irelands welfare as my wife lets me know from time to time lol. ;-) Ps. I can say that in the knowledge that She never reads this blog.Remind me to clear my surfing caches every now and then ;;-))

By: coldblow

coldblow — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:53:14 +0000

“Follow the money” yes. I was thinking about Deco’s call for freedom of information and the large fees that have been charged in some cases, presumably under the FOI Act. I would be careful about this however as there are plenty of journalists out there who fancy themselves as Tribunes of the People or just looking for a story and I have seen one or two stories which were built on the information released. To manufacture a generic example: why has the state scandalously failed to purchase site X in view of its close association with major Irish historical figure Y? Reason: the state is unwilling to pay out the hundreds of thousands of euros demanded by the owner of the land on which the historical “gem” is sited. The local newspaper represents this as the state neglecting its duty. There also appears to be no shortage of cranks out there willing to waste hour upon hour of state resources in pursuit of self-serving, trivial or vexatious claims, looking for favoured treatment or just out of sheer paranoia.

But I digress. My fantasy in terms of following the money would be to broaden the whole concept, ie force full disclosure of everyone’s assets and cash flow (men, women and children) held both here and invested abroad. Now THAT would be interesting.

By: John ALLEN

John ALLEN — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:14:58 +0000

Jim – Congratulations I hope your decision makes life a new experience for your family.Question: what budget cost must a family need to consider ~( say 2000 plus sq feet house ) and choice of product did you purchase?

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:45:23 +0000

jim, right, …. “follow the money”, I say.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:36:14 +0000

Linked in, linked up, facebooked, beebooed, networked,all fine concepts for social integration,but excuse my French, but not worth a fiddlers fu.k if you have nothing in your arse pocket….In Ireland as recent history has made all to clear,(not that I ,as a long term observer of these things needed to be told) is that ,the three places you need to be linked into are 1.Banks. 2 Politicians. 3 D4…..Up to this point People like me depended on the likes of coke sniffing,hooker, Dunne to break ranks and expose some of the shenanigans,so that changes could be made for the better.Crooks would be outed,safeguards put in place ,and one step nearer to real democracy was the hopefull outcome……This credit crunch has ripped the VENEER of deciency and respectability off Institutions in this State,and given the people their first real chance of proper reform.The outrage felt by people who feel that they have been conned , lied to ,fobbed off,and generally taken for fools is there for anybody who reads different blogs or just takes a drive around the Country.I can tell ye that the level of comment on this blog is mild compared to what i’ve being reading for the last while. I’ll take any pain in the short-term if it means proper reform for the generations that will follow after Im long gone……The main item on the agenda of this Smart Economy should be a total clear out of all the crooks, no whitewash,no compromise,no soft options,no golden parachutes,no more golden circles.There’s no way I can with good concience stand idly by and watch as these crooks try to put the shit back in the horse at everyone elses expence.I hope I dont come accross as some sort of crusader like that poor bast.rd who turns up at football games with his John 3:15 board, but i have drawn a line in the sand on this one. I can read and explain any of the Economic indicators and other data for ye here but we need Hero Whistleblowers to point Cab,.Garda fraud squad etc. in the right direction.We need people of good concience to point to where the bodies are buried.Just as we recovered huge sums in monetary terms from other scandals so also can we do the same again.All these unlimited co’s with a limited liability owner in the Isle of Man etc need to be outed.We just need to follow the money with unrelenting zeal,to hell with it Ill work with the Authorities for free if it helps.Lets bring the offshore lackies back home onto dry land where we can ask a few questions.Lets invest in term contracts for all unemployed people with financial experience to help track down OUR money.We need it back and we need it now,it will be self financing,trust me it always is.Even the Swiss with all their secrecy are crumbling under the pressure for disclosure.Dont listen to the spinners,there is a large pot of gold out there,now lets just track it down.

By: goinghome

goinghome — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:17:03 +0000

As I understand it, the laws of supply and demand are constantly being affected consciously and unconsciously anyway by agent’s beliefs and values. Since this is so, it is possible and desirable to intervene in the market in such a way that would steer sellers and buyers towards more responsible and sustainable financial, social and environmental exchanges. It seems to me that this is already happening in a lot of commercial areas, particularly with eco-health products where it is often difficult to tell whether it’s the manufacturers or consumers – if not some other factors of persuasion – that are leading the change. There’s Tim, for example, delighted with his solar panels! Financial and other institutions may put up more resistance initially to paring back business to practical present relevance. The idea is, like most, vulnerable to spin misuse but in theory it is sound and sane, and undoubtedly has, er, value…