Invest in private sector and cut work hours

I WISH to outline a few suggestion to improve our economic situation.

Instead of “trickle down economics” we should pursue a “bubble up theory”. The former worked during the Great Depression but our current state calls for a different approach.

Instead of pumping money into the banks – some should be, but not at the present rate – we should pump it into creating jobs through the small business sector and corporations. Specifically, jobs that permit the worker to put in 24-to-30 hours a week – gradually reducing the work week for all from 40 to 24/30 hours. This will bring full employment (in the case of Ireland prohibiting unemployment by law to rise higher than 4%).

Thousands of jobs could be created by new leisure time activities. Citizens with a job generally have high self-esteem. Family breakdown would diminish; the ‘brain drain’ would ease; crime and anti-social behaviour would decline.

The amount of money entering state coffers would dramatically increase and, obviously, the 500,000 people drawing the dole would decrease significantly.

Vincent J Lavery

Dalkey

Co Dublin