Price too high for mortgage forgiveness

AN economics professor at UCD was reported recently as recommending a mortgage forgiveness scheme that would only cost us €5 billion or €6 billion.

That is half the proof that the science of economics was only invented to make astrology look good. The other half of the proof is provided by the fact that dozens of other economists do not think that. It is not science of any sort. Nor does it have anything to do with morals, apparently. Following closely in the footsteps of Alice in Wonderland and Fianna Fáil(ure), everything seems easy when it’s somebody else’s money and you’re not actually responsible for anything.

If a professor had said 20 years ago “a mere €5bn or €6bn more” just to let crazed gamblers off the hook, the board of UCD would have been calling for the men in white coats.