Jobs plan has plenty of hope but little detail

A mantra widely used by Bill Clinton during his 1992 election campaign against George Bush Sr ran: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

It worked as Bush was turfed out and so started a cycle that brought us to the global situation we find ourselves today.

In some respects, we are hearing the same from this Government, where the focus is on the economy and saving the banking system and the banks, with only a sideward glance at people.

It should never be forgotten, but without motivated and productive people, there would be no economy. If the Government and the EU does not get its act together, so many young people, professional and otherwise, will have left and our overall quality and standard of living will stay dropped for a long time to come.

Governments cannot create jobs, although they claim any jobs that appear as their personal success. However, governments can and must create the situation that facilitates the creation of jobs.

The Ireland of today is not going to do that. Sure, we may be still attracting companies to these shores but taxation remains a very large part of the decision.

People represent a huge part of the ingredients for success and a people taxed to the hilt and demotivated are sooner or later going to undermine that job creation effort. Look back to the 1980s to see the difficulties, when working even one extra hour would move the individual into the next tax bracket.

Last week, the Government launched its jobs strategy. Unfortunately, reviews of this strategy would suggest that it is high on hyperbole and low on actually ensuring anything will result from it.

The Government now seems to believe its own rhetoric. Just because you wish it and just because you write it down or say it in public does not mean that it will automatically happen.

Many in the US have finally woken up to the fact that, while Barack Obama might be sincere, pleasant and photogenic and might even talk a great story, that is not how he will ultimately be measured.

He will be measured on results. Saying “yes, we can” is not the same as making it happen. As in the US, we also need to see it happen.

We need to see jobs on the ground. We need to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Over recent weeks it has become clearer on a daily basis that things are not getting better for the coping classes. They are in fact deteriorating. What is worse is that these folk are being hammered while they are down. Witness the elderly couple who had to cancel their VHI policy because they could not afford it any longer.

For their efforts at saving, they were faced with a cancellation charge of €700 by this taxpayer-owned body, something recently slipped into the small print of their contracts, no doubt.

Government tampering with the taxation system, in an effort to attract high flyers into Ireland, in an effort to bring foreign direct investment in, smacks of a shotgun approach — hit and miss. It’s an “it will be alright on the night” strategy. However, if the sole purpose of this taxation change is to facilitate paying our senior bankers or their replacements, or if it is used for that purpose, it will then amount to the lowest form of cynicism possible.

This new strategy is not all wrong. There are some good provisions which people will welcome, particularly the mortgage provisions for those who bought during the boom.

When all is said and done, it is a “hope” strategy rather than anything that will immediately deliver. Unfortunately, though, we are way beyond that now.

So it’s time for our well-paid politicians and their well-paid advisors to put their thinking caps back on and start thinking outside the box. For a fact, there is little in the box.