Sunday Business Post

What a difference a month makes. We entered this year with a debt  crisis in Europe and a growth crisis in the US. Investors were  terrified, governments were falling and there was a total lack of  political leadership both in Europe and the US. Corporations were in  retrenchment mode and even the bulls were retreating,…

Water into wine? I think not. Rather than talk about who went ‘mad borrowing’ last week, let’s focus on why it happened, because I want to explain what is happening right now in the financial markets. I would also like to make the point that central banks are becoming – yet again – instruments of…

Last weekend, I went to see Roddy Doyle’s clever adaptation of Gogol’s The Government Inspector at the Abbey. Go to see it if you can – it is wonderful. Of the many highlights, one of the most memorable is Don Wycherley’s performance as the Mayor. As I left the theatre, I was marvelling at Wycherley’s…

The European debt crisis is moving swiftly to the next phase following the downgrade of France and the collapse of the Greek negotiations with its creditors last Friday night. It is becoming increasingly obvious that there will be no deal in Greece. This is good news because it means the end of the pass-the-parcel-ponzi-scheme, whereby…

One of the many advantages of advising a large Italian company – apart from getting paid on time – is that every now and then, you get invited to symposiums in lovely parts of Europe’s most beautiful country. This year, the company – a proper manufacturing company that has specialised in design excellence, so that…

Did your mother ever tell you to be afraid of umbrellas because they could take your eye out? When I was a child, the humble umbrella transformed itself into a weapon of mass destruction in our house capable of all classes of contortions, which would lead directly to poking some misfortunate’s eye out. I have no idea where the…

The last flight from Frankfurt to Dublin last Thursday was jammed. I didn’t expect it. In fact I thought a 10.45pm flight from Germany would have been half empty. But, of course, the flight was jammed with returning young Irish people. They are all on their way home, but they’re not coming from Germany; they…

This can’t go on. The figures from our economy released in the past few days reveal that the medicine is killing the patient and killing it quickly. From July to September, we saw the biggest fall in the number of people employed in two years. Some 46,000 fewer people we employed in this country compared…

The deal signed last Friday is the beginning of the end of Europe as we know it. The shift is on from a family of nations, with checks and balances, to a German Europe where diktat triumphs over dialogue, and the interest of the strongest wipes the floor with the concerns of the weakest. Luckily…

Europe’s crisis has gone nuclear. For readers of this column, the endgame in Europe, which is likely to be a currency break-up, hardly comes as news. But the event itself will be traumatic for all of us. The most likely scenario is some sort of two-tier eurozone, where the euro breaks into a strong and…