Optimistic America can help us get back on the road to recovery

I FLEW back into Dublin on Monday after 10 days in the United States and my heart sank at coming home to Ireland, for the first time that I can remember. I normally look forward to returning, having enjoyed a break.

It was a dull, grey day: I was told subsequently that the sun had been shining for days beforehand and that it was unfortunate timing to return from the sun and heat of Orlando in Central Florida just when the weather had turned against us. It was also a public holiday, so many of the shops were shuttered which didn’t help the look of our capital city, although I know that many of them remained closed the following day after many others had re-opened.

Our 10-day family holiday in the US suggested a number of things to me. Firstly, I realised how lucky I was to be able to afford to bring the children to the Harry Potter theme park at Universal and go to Disney and the other attractions. Many children will not be getting any holidays this year, either foreign or domestic (much as I didn’t myself when I was a child and then teenager). Travelling to Orlando is a frippery that will be denied to many who would like to do so, or who once could afford it but cannot any longer.

That said, I met plenty of Irish people in Orlando, and saw others wearing Irish rugby jerseys, so I wasn’t alone in spending heavily to bring the family there. The planes there and back were full too. There were more people than me interested in getting away from it all.

And, unfortunately, Ireland is grim at present. This is understandable and not surprising when you consider the number of people who have lost jobs and others who have had their incomes slashed. People are not spending because they don’t have the money to do so, or if they have money they are saving for fear of what the future holds. Others do not want to engage in conspicuous consumption if they have some money for fear of how they will be judged by others: this lack of spending by those who retain the capacity to spend impacts on tax receipts and contributes to job losses.

As it was my first time in the United States since 1999, much of what I saw in Orlando got me thinking, about what we have lost in Ireland and how we can regain it by taking example from the Americans.

The first thing for the Irish to do is simple and costs nothing: Those who work in Ireland have to be encouraged to be friendly and helpful to their customers. We have prided ourselves on our famous “Cead Mile Fáilte”, but too often we do not experience such a welcome in Ireland any more. Too often waiters and waitresses in restaurants, receptionists in hotels, assistants in shops and people with whom you deal on the phone are often rude and inattentive. Too many act as if you are a nuisance to them, although you may be looking to spend money. In the US, you are made feel like your custom is valued, even if they cannot serve you immediately and you have to queue.

It’s even better then when you find out that the price of almost everything in the US is cheaper than it is here — food, clothes, petrol, whatever. You feel better about spending money and probably spend more, with all of the benefits that brings to the government through taxes and to the vendors through the income that this brings.

A second lesson that we can learn from the Americans is how to deal with their problems decisively. All over Florida there are signs for houses for sale. The region has suffered a property bubble proportionate to ours. There was an enormous degree of overbuilding and now there are massive signs all over the state inviting bids for “foreclosures”, houses that have been repossessed by the lending banks and which are for sale now again at much cheaper prices. It may seem ruthless and tough, but this is the way to establish promptly the price at which houses will sell, get trade going again and get properties occupied.

The prices being asked for these houses are eye-popping. I priced a range of houses within a 15-minute drive of the Disney theme parks. They ranged from between 2,500 and 3,200 square feet in size, including integrated garages, and had a swimming pool out the back that was fenced in with permanent netting to avoid insects and the like. The prices ranged from $150,000 to $250,000. Compare that to prices still being demanded in Ireland for much smaller units. That’s how you shift empty property: you price it to sell and don’t worry about the values of other people’s units.

A third trend I noticed in the US was the number of older people working, in what seemed like relatively undemanding jobs, such as car parking attendants, or as ticket checkers at the amusement parks. Here in Ireland you might have expected such people to be retired. This may be our future too, given that the IMF/EU deal includes changes to the years in which the old age pension will become applicable in the future.

For example, as a 44-year-old man I won’t be able to claim a state pension until I’m 68 years old because of these changes. This may not seem very fair but as people are living longer and are more healthy, and as the cost to workers of providing the taxes to pay state pensions is so high, then this is inevitable. Indeed, I wonder if people of my generation will be able to retire before the age of 70, or if we should want to do so. But it should bring into further discussion the retirement ages of public servants in this country. Is it fair to everyone else that some public servants are able to retire as young as the age of 50, when they might end up having a state pension for longer than the amount of time they worked?

The other thing that is notable about the US — and indeed I have heard this from people who have travelled to other countries recently — is the notable difference in mood. People are more optimistic about the future than we are in Ireland. They are interested in trying to find solutions rather than complaining about their lot. It is true, of course, that they had the financial resources to deal with their own banking scandals and that they have yet to confront honestly the issue of their own excessive government borrowing.

The US government is also running its most expensive ever social support system. Nor are the American people under the constraint of the terms of an IMF/EU deal that demands further cuts in services and increases in taxes on an annual basis. But attitude is important and there is plenty of positivity in the US that we might do well to try to emulate, no matter how bad things here are.

The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.