Non-sensational view of our economic woes

MANY of our so-called economists are also journalists, so we are attracted by the sensationalism of their articles thereby justifying their fees.

The greater the sensation, the bigger the number of readers or listeners. Recently, Dan O’Brien, an economist based in Brussels, spoke as part of a panel of experts and certainly put some of our sensationalist ‘economists’ back in their boxes.

He simply reminded them that our bank, unemployment and public finances are worldwide issues — not just Irish.

He also reminded the other panellists that our banks are not as bad as those in the US because we didn’t get involved in the subprime mortgage market. It isn’t all about putting heads on the block now like some of our economists/journalists would love to have it.

When asked about what the Irish Government should do, Mr O’Brien made some valid points:

1 No country has as yet found a solution to their bank/credit problems — this includes all EU countries as well as China, Japan and the USA

2. He believed the Irish Government was right to proceed slowly with our bank issues. Let other countries experiment and then we can follow suit with our solution from the hard lessons that will be learned.

This is practical but dull economics that doesn’t suit our economists/journalists) who continue to look for eye-grabbing headlines while not offering any credible solutions.

Seán Murphy

West Ave

Carrignacurra

Carrigaline

Co Cork