The Tsunami of Greed

Recently, Mr Pat Cox, former Irish President of The European Parliament, scholar and politician, diagnosed the root cause of the economic recession here in Ireland as being the tsunami of greed that had enveloped the mythical and legendary green isle. The land of mythical leprecauns had become the land of the mythical Celtic Tiger. Most Irish people swallowed whole this myth of inevitable progess and increasing wealth. With greed and selfishness the core values, there seemed to be no hindering the onward flight of the legendary Tiger. However, some few perspicacious souls like Eddie Hobbs (financial adviser) and David McWilliams (economist and journalist)saw through the myth and saw that the Celtic Tiger was but an inflated toy made of rather brittle plastic. Now the economic bubble has burst and the Tiger is a deflated, sad and lifeless mess.

Our national economic boom was a myth based upon a vastly over-priced housing market. The basic economic law of supply and demand brought the whole rotten mess collapsing down. Now we have an oversupply of houses and apartments and what has come to be termed "ghost housing estates" in many rural areas around the country. Bankers lent too much money to builders who in turn cannot sell the houses at vastly over-inflated prices. Added to this, we have been dealt the second blow of the international economic crisis.

However, this short post will not attempt too much analysis of the economic situation as its writer is poorly equipped to do so. However, it would seem to all and sundry that what has caused both our national crisis and indeed the international one has been nothing short of naked greed and selfishness. The world needs leaders at this moment in time. Barak Obama, the US President, is one such towering leader with principles and ideals. He is standing up to all those who have been sucked into headless and heartless capitalism. He is to be praised for capping the earnings of CEOs at $250,000. We need to follow his leadership here in Ireland. We need such leaders in the world today. Mr Obama can walk the walk as well as talking the talk.