Marc Coleman:The Best is Yet to Crumble
Jul 1st, 2010 by Conor McCabe
I planned to read The Best is Yet to Come today, as part of a summary of contemporary publications on the Irish economy for a book I’m working on, but Jesus Almighty Christ.
Do you know that line that if you have an infinite amount of monkeys and if you give them an infinite amount of typewriters and an infinite amount of paper, one of them will write the complete works of Shakespeare.
Well, if you give Marc Coleman six cans of Guinness and a bottle of laxatives, he gives you back a book.
Two or three examples, I promise you, that is it.
Even by European standards, England was an early industrialiser” (p.10)
Wow.
England, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, was an early industrialiser, even by European standards.
Situated on the temperate if rainy north-west fringe of Europe, Ireland has one of the world’s most fortunate locations” (p.11-12)
For what? For rainy fringes?.
No historical experience can match the trauma of the Holocaust. But in a more moderate way, Ireland today is undergoing a similar experience to Israel in recent decades.” (p.2)
The Celtic Tiger was akin to moderate Holocaust trauma?
This, however, is where I gave up. It’s on page 22.
The mainstay of the [pre-famine] economy was agriculture. Had it been productively organised, even this might have allowed Ireland to offset the impact of the famine.”
Yep. Food can actually offset the impact of a famine.
Actually, it was this bit, where he explains what caused the Great Famine:
Unable to own property, many Irish couples saw that having a large number of offspring was the only way to ensure financial security in the future.”
Thick as fucking porridge.
I’m guessing Mickey Mouse wears a Marc Coleman watch.
tonight’s Who Do you Think You Are? on RTE has “Actress Lisa Kudrow, best known for her role as Phoebe on Friends, [embarking] on a journey to research her great-grandmother, who perished in the Holocaust. Travelling to Belarus, she unearths documents and eye-witness testimonies that reveal the true story of her ancestor’s tragic fate.”
Her great-grandmother’s experience was a bit like The Celtic Tiger, only less moderate, of course.
Jesus fucking Christ.
There was me thinking Sylvia Plath had been a bit indelicate in her (in)famous holocaust parallel.. until this great sage came along.
On another point - have you still got Wi-Fi connectivity in the Past ?I thought you’d gone there a few days ago.
just when I think I’m out, they drag me back in.
“August 2005 saw the 160th anniversary of the potato blight reaching Ireland. A less serious but significant crisis was about to hit the Irish economy… At a confidential meeting with Ireland’s central bank, officials of the [OECD] warned that Irish house prices were overvalued by around 15 per cent.” (p.43)
In the months running up to the 2007 general election Marc saw that property prices were rising unsustainably (even above the 15 percent overvaluation the Central Bank spied). Marc came up with an answer to counter this. Marc proposed that stamp duty should be cut. Marc said that if you cut stamp duty during a property boom, property prices would fall. At that time Marc was economics correspondent of the Irish Times. It was also during that time that Marc was writing the book, Conor, that you can’t tear yourswelf away from.
It’s a scab on your leg that you can’t stop picking. Any page and there’s guaranteed gibberish. It’s like the written equivalent of a Jackson Pollack painting, but with less structure.
How the fuck did he end up as economics editor of the Irish Times? Fuck me.
Isn’t Dan O’Brien of the wonderfully named “Economics Intelligence Unit” now doing that job in the IT? When will his book be published?
Conor, get back in your tardis there, you have vital work to be doing!
Well, Dan O’Brien has just been appointed as Economic Editor of the Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0626/1224273366735.html
So, as we can see here, it’s not the accuracy of your economic insights that you get you that handy little number.
http://dublinopinion.com/2009/05/19/dan-obrien-cut-minimum-wage-fuck-yeah/
I’m sure at this very moment he is working hard on his book about how to save the Irish economy by sacking half of the public sector, slashing wages across the board, declaring a state of economic emergency, cancelling elections and making Peter Sutherland Taoiseach for life.
Great minds, Left, great minds. Didn’t see your comment when I wrote mine.
Scary, the groupthink effect
When Conor put up the SF/WP pamphlet on the banks, you could see how heavily it relied on an Irish Times analysis. What chance the Irish Times producing the sort of detailed information that can be turned into political analysis under the new regime?
I had an exchange with some senior person in the IT a year or so ago about property and Mr. Coleman was mentioned. I didn’t publish because it was meant to be followed with an interview that never materialised (it seems permission wasn’t granted). Here’s some bits:
Me: Marc Coleman warned Irish Times readers in 2007: “We are not on course for a property crash, unless we choose to manufacture one with irresponsible comment.”
IT: Marc Coleman no longer works for this paper and one only has to point to the title of his fairly fresh book on the economy, The Best is Yet to Come, to develop a view as to his credibility! I think that the only person touting Mr Coleman as a prescient soothsayer is… Marc Coleman.
Me: I’m glad we agree about Marc Coleman’s credibility, but the fact he served as Irish Times Economics Editor for over 2 years is far important than the fact he now doesn’t.
IT (responding to some examples): “All will be well - if politicians don’t meddle in the property market.” [Marc Coleman, January 25, 2007] ‘nuff said…
“Nothing exciting - or dangerous - is in prospect for the market over the next two or three years.” [Marc Coleman, March 1 2007] ‘nuff said, part II
Aprpos of nothing, a rather fantastic slip of the tongue by Coleman on Newstalk the other night
http://achgohairithe.tumblr.com/post/841150373/massive-slip-of-the-ahem-tongue-on-newstalks
I note with interest the findings of the committee on the Ghost Estates built over the last 2/3 years around the country and now going into decay.
With a view to preventing this from happening I make the following suggestions:
1/There is over €100bn in savings in the country.
2/With this in mind would it not be possible to simply sell the unfinished properties to the public at a cost of say €20,000 (for near completed units) each with the proviso that a bond of €40,000 be lodged to pay for the completion of the properties by the new owner.The new owner to give an undertaking that they will reside in the completed property and that they would complete works within 1 year.
3/ A scaled pricing for the properties depending on state of completion to be introduced.
4/Completed properties could be sold for 1995 prices- €50,000 to €70,000
5/Properties only at the superstructure stage to be sold for €5,000 and above conditions to apply.
6/All above to be taken over and administered by local authorities.
Adopting above would ensure that NAMA got some return instead of a nil return and perhaps a cost -if sites had to be cleared.
I look forward to your response to the above suggestions.
Best Regards
Noel Geary (Retd.)
10 Kings Court,