We’re on the road to ruin and the Japanese model is the one to fear

SOMETIMES something seems so patently obvious that one begins to question one’s own judgment when so many others don’t seem to see it.

Of course, Bertie is better than Bush or Berlusconi but, as I have been suggesting here since December 1999, his Government is "probably the worst Government we have had since the GUBU administration of 1982, which was the worst government in the history of the state."

It has squandered some of the greatest advantages enjoyed by any Irish Government. Reports of factory closures are now becoming a regular occurrence. In the past week there was news that Navan Carpets were closing down after 65 years with the loss of 200 jobs, and an American factory is closing with the loss of 118 jobs in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, a town of less than 800 people. That is a devastating blow to a small community, the equivalent of more than 24,470 jobs in Cork city.