Economic meltdown will skin all cats, not just the fat ones

THE present financial crisis has given rise to at least two interesting side effects:

* It has shown up the fragility of national self-confidence. Despite the fact that we have relatively low inflation and unemployment plus a strong currency; all the old self-doubts seem to be flooding back at the sight of the first serious economic setback for many years.

The largely clerically induced state of low self esteem, inculcated over centuries, still seems to be deeply embedded in our collective psyche. It would be a great pity if this was permitted both to make things worse in the short term and to delay the eventual recovery.

* The apparent relish with which the media greets each new bout of freefall by the stock market.

Do the Bolsheviks of the Fourth Estate not realise that an economic meltdown will skin all cats, not just the fat ones at the top?

Most of us tend to have jobs, pensions, bank accounts and even a few directly held shares, here and there. All are affected, but the thin cats have much less capacity to resist disaster and to recover from it.

Beware, Cassandras, the graves you are dancing on may well turn out to include your own.

David Roberts

Gloundine

Castlegrove

Mallow

Co CorkYET again, the Government treats the people with fathomless contempt in its impotent failure to compel the banks to pass on the benefit of the recent ECB cut in interest.

What affects the ordinary person will not, of course, affect the Government.

The Government is content to extend its bailout policy to foreign-owned banks, but will happily ignore the plight of the hard-pressed public.

Dr Florence Craven

Maynooth

Co Kildare