This talk of wealth tax and the example use, Michael O'Leary, is typical BS and Irish begrudgery from people that don't have a clue how to plot a way out of this mess. We talk of a "Smart Economy" and it being one way to get out of here but still you want to tax the crap out of people that start companies from scratch into a profitable $9B euro company that employs more than 7K people (OK, all not in Ireland), so what incentive is that for someone that may have an idea for the next company to employ people? O'Leary is paid 240K Euro per year, yeah sure he's not short a bob but it was his hard work that got himself there. Now you want to tax the crap out of him and others to pay for some jackass that sitting on the dole for the past 20 years! On that wage he probably already pays 100K plus in tax, more than most I hasten to guess. He's been critical of the Government all through the boom, as any good business man would be. Comments like "we'd be better off shot of him" and "we're people that made him rich" are complete nonsense. There are countless homes better off because of men/women like him, by generating good jobs etc.
There are countless more "O'Leary" types out there so your solution is to tax these Patriots out of the country, great strategy. We can see how well the country is going being run by people that have no business sense, vision or strategy.
Now if you take the state and semi-state companies like ESB, RTE etc. it's a different story. These people are overpaid and underperforming, Padraig McManus the head of ESB on 750K per year – remember you pay his wage in your ESB bill each month. What has a clown like that done over the past 15 years except help raise the average wage in the ESB to 75K/y, but the people on the street pay his way. Similar with Pat Kenny and the likes in RTE. Having to pay a TV license even if you never watch a min of RTE during the year – nuts. Let them be business run to make a profit without government help and people propping them up. All these lads need to be brought back down to earth, where's Jack O'Connor and his benchmarking and partnership these days. Another one that has put us where we are today.
While I'm at it, where's CAB these days? What about all the developers that still wander around untouched while their development in a overpaid for field lies unfinished. Not one person has been put in jail for this mess the Bankers/Builders/Government have the country. Yet, the US authorities are the ones putting the squeeze on Drumm from Anglo. It'd be better to recoup some funds this way rather than taxing the innovators and legitimate business leaders in the private sector. Tax them and there no way out for this country except through Berlin!
There are countless more "O'Leary" types out there so your solution is to tax these Patriots out of the country, great strategy. We can see how well the country is going being run by people that have no business sense, vision or strategy.
Now if you take the state and semi-state companies like ESB, RTE etc. it's a different story. These people are overpaid and underperforming, Padraig McManus the head of ESB on 750K per year – remember you pay his wage in your ESB bill each month. What has a clown like that done over the past 15 years except help raise the average wage in the ESB to 75K/y, but the people on the street pay his way. Similar with Pat Kenny and the likes in RTE. Having to pay a TV license even if you never watch a min of RTE during the year – nuts. Let them be business run to make a profit without government help and people propping them up. All these lads need to be brought back down to earth, where's Jack O'Connor and his benchmarking and partnership these days. Another one that has put us where we are today.
While I'm at it, where's CAB these days? What about all the developers that still wander around untouched while their development in a overpaid for field lies unfinished. Not one person has been put in jail for this mess the Bankers/Builders/Government have the country. Yet, the US authorities are the ones putting the squeeze on Drumm from Anglo. It'd be better to recoup some funds this way rather than taxing the innovators and legitimate business leaders in the private sector. Tax them and there no way out for this country except through Berlin!
