Cowen should have applied simple lesson on deficit spending to himself

I ENJOYED Brian Cowen’s recent economics lesson to the Dáil.

I found it particularly illuminating when he told the opposition, and us by extension, that it was unsustainable to be spending €50 while only taking in €31 or €32.

It’s a pity this kind of insight was not available to him when he was the Minister of Finance.

At that time the economy was being fuelled by borrowed money creating the very scenario he is now warning us against.

Despite danger signals from some economists at that time, this was allowed to continue with the result that not only did it give false indicators as to how strong our economy was performing, but it also damaged our prospects of stimulating future growth of the kind the Government is now counting on to get us out of the mess.

All this borrowed money has to be repaid, so of the €32, only around €25 is available to try to stimulate growth and now the Government wants to take a bigger share of that €25 so it can pay back the money it has borrowed.

Why not simply go the whole hog and make us their slaves, working only for our food and maybe some clothes, all for the glory of a ruling class that must be the envy of the world because of the generous remuneration they have bestowed upon themselves over the years. In time to come what other words of wisdom will Mr Cowen offer us. Maybe “there was no way a country the size of ours was in a position to bail out banks for that much money”.

Or “there was no way a government could take that much money out of an economy and not have it collapse”.

Or how about “I should have retired back in 2004”?

Dave McInerney

Rivendell

Coolatuder

Ballinhassig

Co Cork