Merry Christmas to those who can afford it!

With Christmas only 10 days away, there are many people out there watching their pennies to ensure that Christmas will be as good as it can be. There is alot of talk on all forms of media about this new property tax of €100 per household. Its a blanket charge that applies the same to Dermot Desmond on Ailesbury Road, D4 as it does to the Curley family from The Snapper, in Kilbarrack, D17.

The manner in which this tax is been introduced is symptomatic of the disease that exists in this country. This disease is widespread throughout our Civil Service. Instead of putting in the work and appraising households on various criteria;income, property size,location etc, they take the easiest option; the blanket tax.

For at least 20 years that I know of, they have been talking about means testing for Children's Allowance and yet it has never been implemented. Why not? If these top civil servants need to be paid top wages due to the fact they are so brilliant why have they never taken on the task on behalf of the people they work for. It would allow us to apply future taxes in a more equitable fashion than the hamfisted approach we take now. It seems to me that they just couldn't be bothered to put the work in. It might impinge on their flexi-time or elongated holidays.

When I speak of Civil Service I am only referring to the top echelons of all depts. If you look at all the measures that have been put in place to adhere to the IMF conditions, the boyos at the top in the Civil Service, The Central Bank, all the Banks, Insurance companies, Developers, the Dept of Finance and the Government not one of them will have their lifestyles effected by any of the measures put in place. A 10% pay cut will not hurt someone earning €150,000 a year on pension. Brian Cowan will not feel the pinch when his kids go to college due to the fact that registration fees have been increase by €500. The yearly household tax of €100 is carry around change for those lads. They will all spend as much money as they need to this Christmas. They won't be cutting back. They won't be wondering will Santa be able to bring Jimmy that new expensive toy he so badly wants. No trips do to Lidl to buy cheaper groceries so that the dinner table can seem full.

I would ask Enda Kenny to go back over the transcript of his "Address to the Nation" and seriously reconsider his "sharing the pain" platitudes.
We are been screwed no matter what angle you come at it from. There is no other way to describe it.

Is it just me?

Integrity. What is it? What does it mean? How do you get it and does it really exist?
For months now I have listened to to various pundits/politicians talk on the radio/TV and I am told how men at the top within politics, banks, civil service etc are men of "great integrity".
Only last week I hear Shane Coleman, a journalist whom I would have respect for, told listeners to Newstalk's Lunchtime show, how Kevin Cardiff , the Secretary General of the Dept. of Finance, was a man of great integrity.
This got me thinking. What does integrity mean. I hear it being bandied about all the time but I cannot put my finger on the pure essence of it as the interpretation that I understand does not seem to apply to these people whom have been labelled with it.
Having integrity to me would mean that if mistakes or errors were made that I am paid to be responsible for, I would do the honourable thing and accept the responsibility and resign. I would fall on my sword for the good of the organisation that I represent.
This kind of integrity does not exist on these islands. Mr Cardiff was present on the night of the most disastrous error any politician/ civil servant has ever made in this country and yet instead of saying Mea Culpa, he carries on as if nothing untoward has happened. Where was this "great integrity" that Shane Coleman spoke of. I am just misinterpreting the meaning. Is there anyone out there who knows what it means?
Are people too free with labelling someone as a person with integrity. It's like respect. I always believed that respect had to be earned. Should a person have to earn the right by his deeds to show he has integrity. I don't know Kevin Cardiff, so should I not judge him by the actions I have seen to determine whether he has integrity or not. Or if you are going to say that someone is a person of integrity that you at least give us an example of the deeds or actions that led to this belief.
Any thoughts are welcomed.

To Be or Not To Be?

Having read and listened to all the experts for the last two years concerning our economic crisis I have come to the conclusion that the best course of action that I can take is to become a Corporation. I have decided that there is no longer any value in being a Citizen and that I must change in order to get the best out of the austerity we are all facing.

You may say that our fore-fathers fought and died in order to secure us the right to vote, but I have to ask the question ; What is the point of the vote? I voted against Lisbon 1 but was told that was not the right answer and so they had Lisbon 2. They got the answer they wanted that time. In the general election I was presented with a list of doozies to vote for but in reality if I was an employer and that lot were paraded in front of me looking for a job none of them would make the short list.

If I was Incorporated I would be able to petition or lobby the Government to protect my Corporation. As a Citizen my voice falls on deaf ears.

If I was Incorporated I would only have to pay 12.5% Tax instead of 41%. I could register for VAT and claim back the VAT on all my purchases.

I could offset all my expenses against tax, probably paying little or no tax. What a great idea. 

I couldn't be jailed for crimes of any sort even murder. I mean whens the last time you hear of a Corporation going to jail. Not in my lifetime, I never heard of it. Have you?

If I default on my loans with the banks et al I can just fold up my Corporation and walk away from the debt. I would have limited liability. They could not pursue me further but as a Citizen the debts would follow me for my life.

I would be free to travel around the world without being required to show a passport. You don't need a passport when you Incorporated.

If I was considered systemic to the country and I made a bollix of my Corporation the government would bail me out, but as a Citizen I will never be considered systemic to the country. I am meaningless. I have no worth to them. Well, except the taxes that they can screw me for, to bailout the Corporations that did make a bollix of their companies.

In essence I believe that we should all hand back our Citizenship and become Incorporated instead. The outlook would be a lot rosier for us then.

Yes we Can!

Walking past the Custom's House early Saturday morning. Nice enough day for November. Not raining and according to my phone, the temp is 15C.

It has a nice wide pavement on the river side but unfortunately struan across it were a mixture of beer cans and plastic bottles . As I was looking at this mess a thought came to me.

Years ago I lived in California  and there they had what was known as California Redemption Value. This was a 5 cent tax on all cans and bottles, 10 cents on large bottles and  bi metal containers. If you brought your cans et al back to the recycling centre you would be refunded your 5 cent tax for each item. Some supermarkets would have vending like machines, which would take your cans or bottles and refund you your cash. Last year in California they recycled 16.5 billion cans, plastic bottles and bi metal containers.

When I first came across this recycling system I thought , " What a simple concept" . No rocket science needed here. it's a win-win situation. Our streets and countryside no longer need to be littered  with the "King of Beers" or "Probably the Best Larger"

Now you may ask. Would this work here in "Green Ireland"? 

I think yes,it would work, but, and there are always buts.

In order for this to be implemented we would have to have a government that is actually capable of making an intelligent decision. So far, since the election, I have seen no evidence that they have this simple capability.

It is a bit ironic that this thought came to me while passing the Dept. of Environment, the body responsible for recycling and litter.

I will live in hope.

What Rubbish!!

Today 20th October I received a letter from Fingal County Council addressed to "The Occupier". It was dated "October 2011" , no actual date, and was to inform me "The Occupier" of changes to my waste collection service. The changes you ask?  Well it seems that they are "advising" me that they will no longer be in a position to provide me with a waste collection service. 

My service will cease on the 1st of November. 

Did I read that right?

Was I not paid up until the end of the year?

What's going on? 

Nine days notice. 9 days. Only nine days. This seems very short.

Recently I changed my broadband and I was told I had to give 31 days notice.

Is it too much to be given the same courtesy?

Well apparently not!

What I thought odd was, I had Fingal Co.Co., telling me in one instance that they had gone through a "competitive process" in order to make this decision, but the "process" ended up putting me in the hands of Panda, which now becomes a monopoly. Some competition!! Thanks very much. 

The reason I went with Fingal in the first place was I thought their competition with Panda would keep rates down.

Now it appears Panda rule the roost, and sure as eggs are eggs, the cost of  my waste charges will start to rise again. Mark my words. You read it here first!

Austerity in the F.A.I. !!

Did you enjoy the game the other night?

How do you think we will do against Estonia? I have to say I was pleased with the draw but will remain cautious in regard to our chances of getting through the playoffs. Our record in these things is not great.

There will be one benefit if we do qualify. The money bonanza for the F.A.I. will ease the financial difficulties that they are experiencing at present. Apparently if we do not qualify there will be redundancies in Abbottstown.

Shock, Horror how can things be this bad. Didn't Trappatoni take a pay cut. I thought John Delaney reduced his large salary by a few quid.

Well if you had been watching our last couple of games, the keen eye might have been given a clue as to how bad the state of play  really was.

Did you spot it?

You didn't?

Want a clue?.  You do.

Okay here's a clue.

It's normally something that you would associate with third world countries. No idea yet.

Second clue - It's all in a name.

Okay, Okay. We have played the last three games with no names on the Irish Team shirts.

Armenia can afford to put names on their shirt, but not the poor austere Irish.

Do you not remember when we played Russia? Richard Dunne had to change his shirt, but the new shirt had no number on it so they got a permanent marker and wrote it on.

Is this not embarrassing?
Have we really sunk to this low level within the F.A.I.
Before you come back at me that Andorra had no names on their shirts, they're ranked joint 203rd to our 29th.
Surely Trap and (the beers on me) Delaney can take a further pay cut so that our players can take to the field with a bit of dignity and a name on their shirts.

Where is all my water gone?

This week  the 3rd - 9th of October is Recycling week in the workplace, and Repak are asking us to try to recycle more than we are at present.

You may have heard their ads on the radio.

The thing that puzzles me is the request that we either rinse or wash out the products we are recycling.

The average tap flows at a rate of 6 ltr per minute so even if you were to take only 30 seconds rinsing/washing your containers that's at least 3 litres of water down the drain.

Is this not an environmentally unsound practise to be wasting all this water.

At what point are we benefitting the planet by recycling.

I wonder if business owners realise the added cost to their overheads what  with all their staff  washing out their coffee cups from Starbucks.

Is is really neccessary to wash/rinse products before recycling?

It may not be best practise but I think as long as what your recycling is not reeking just toss it in.

Lets save our more precious resource - water.

Our twisted standard's!

Mick Wallace T.D.

I see a few days ago Mick Wallace T.D. has had a judgement  of €19 million taken out against him by ACC Bank in the High Court.

If ACC  Bank were to pursue Mr. Wallace for their money they could end up forcing him into bankruptcy and thus he would have to resign his seat as a standing T.D.





Martin McGuinness

The rules of the Oireachtas do not allow for a bankrupt to hold a seat in the Dail or Seanad.

On the other hand we have a Presidential campaign being waged with a certain Martin McGuinness, former IRA leader ( although not since 1974, so he says) vying to become our next President.

Now it seems to me to be a little twisted that we will allow the leader of a gang, the IRA, whom are known to be responsible for at least 1,700 murders, to hold a high office in this state.
Woe betide you if you owe some money to a bank.

Have we not got things arse backwards?

Is it just me?

Hail to the new leader of A.I.B?

On this site I hope to ask the simple questions that never seem to be asked.
Questions like "Why is the weather forecast  rarely right?".
 "Why can't politicians tell the truth?" etc.
I hope to get feedback from members on questions that they feel are never quite answered.

I will start with a question that came to me as I was making my way into college today.
I happened to be listening to The Last Word on TodayFM, when they started discussing the salary that would be needed to be given to the next CEO of A.I.B.
Michael Soden former CEO of Bank of Ireland was stating that we the taxpayers would have to cough up at least €1 million if we wanted to get a top man to run the bank.

His logic was that we would only attract the best by offering large salaries.

My question is:  Where is the proof to justify this comment?

I nearly sure the lads at Lehman Bros were on big bucks and they ran the company into the ground.

The same at Fanny Mae,Freddie Mac, Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide.

I would contend that paying big salaries does not guarantee quality.

How about this as a suggestion?
 Lets ask if anyone would be willing to work as CEO for a 3 year period with no pay and if they turn the business around they would be given a large bonus.
I somehow think we would get quite a few applicants.
 Lets give it a try.
What have we got to lose?