I have been an avid reader of Neal Boortz's website for years now. He likes to pick on one of the bedwetting idiots working for the AJC, Jay Bookman. In this article, Bookman explains the resons Ireland has become the economic powerhouse of the European Union. He only tells half of the story, though. I'll let Boortz explain:
In his column Bookman cites two items for Ireland's tremendous advances; anti-poverty programs and spending on education. He writes that: ", Irish leaders made a national commitment to eventually eliminate persistent poverty from their country, adopting what they called a National Anti-Poverty Strategy." He adds: They began to invest heavily in their schools, increasing spending on primary grades by more than 50 percent between 1995 and 2002."
OK ... so we have super spending on schools and anti-poverty programs. Does he stop there? Well, pretty much. That's it. He does say "... money wasn't all they invested. Irish leaders also poured political attention and emphasis into education, with remarkable results." Oh great, more political intervention in education. That always works. Then we get the kicker. The resurrection of Ireland "... happened because of active, vigorous leadership that embraced government as a necessary partner of private enterprise in making people's lives better."
So .. there you go! Spoken like a true liberal! Ireland is kicking butt over there in the European Union and it's all because they spent more money on government schools, got government more involved in those schools, and created a great government/free enterprise partnership that made people's lives better. There you have it. Ireland is hot because of government. Again ... spoken like a true liberal.
The truth? Well, partially. There was higher spending, particularly on higher education. And there was a new standard of cooperation between government and business. What Bookman doesn't tell you, though, is that there was a substantial reduction in the tax load on Irish citizens and businesses coupled with a serious reduction in government regulation of the free market economy. Bookman didn't seem to mention anything about the lower taxes and the deregulation of business and the Irish labor market. That tax level, by the way, is substantially lower than the tax level in the U.S. And why not mention these two things? Because they're conservative principles, that's why. Conservatives continually say that lower taxes and less government bureaucracy will lead to a faster growing economy. Ireland proves it, but Bookman ignored it. Bookman wanted to promote the cause of spending more on our schools and increasing the control of our economy ... without telling the whole truth. Not surprising.
5 comments:
Excellent find. I almost posting something on this a while back, but this is much better.
You should also point this fact out.
Before Ireland's economic boom, aka the Celtic Tiger, Ireland did not spend anything on education. Why?
1. The Government did not have enough money to spend on education because most was spent on the Dole (Welfare.)
2. The Catholic Church funded Irish education. As secularism grew, the more the Irish government said no to Catholic sponsored schools.
Ireland was is despair during the 1980s. And, after a 500 year depression, the government cut much of the socialist red tape constricting businesses.
In the 1990s (much to do with lessons learned from Reagan and Thatcher), restrictive socialists business laws were lifted, and the corporate tax rate was dropped from 73% to 12%.
Boom! Local Irish businesses exploded and foreign companies relocated to Eire, especially electronic and software companies.
What was the result? More tax revenue! (even though the tax rates fell, revenues increased... due to a gigantic revenue pool to tax)
So, first came the economic explosion. Then, came the increased spending on education and what not.
Eat that liberals.
The fact that education spending increased 50% in 7 years actually isn't very much. Heck, we've more than doubled federal spending on education here since Bush took office and it hasn't done a darn thing.
This guy has mistated his own case. Ireland did adopt an "anti-poverty" strategy alright: they worked to achieve economic freedom. They lowered taxes, slashed spending, and abolished just about all barriers to trade. If you do these things, commerce will flourish and poverty will undoubtedly reduce itself.
What's interesting is how the Left claims to be the "champion" of the poor, yet they advocate policies that are the total opposite of those implemented in Ireland: higher taxes, more spending, more protectionism, more controls and Soviet-style central planning of everything from education to energy.
Long story short, we've known how to cure poverty for the last 300 years now: adopt capitalism. Continental Europe would do well to follow Ireland's lead.
A while back, I think I did a post of liberal buzz words (words that liberals use repeatedly to make themselves feel smarter than the average low life, gun totin' redneck American who can't possibly understand.)
Here's a new liberal buzz word that's been used more often than Josh Simmons' Saab on a Friday afternoon.
SUSTAINABLE
I've recently seen this word everywhere on the news and TV (the little bit that I watch.)
I believe this word is to describe an object that does not harm the environment, or some crap like that.
You see, Liberals are just like UGA Frat Dudes. They use words or phrases to make themselves feel "apart of the gang." For UGA Frat Dudes, knowing funny movie lines will earn multiple friends... with no personality.
Very niiiiice!
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