to think that will all the massive cuts that are being made it is odd

[2shoes]

that the government can lend another country billions....
now I know there will be a good reason for them doing it, but if we are so in debt, how the hell can we find money to lend to others??

Intergalactic hussy applaud you post on page one and above you are speaking the most sense on this thread.

Great post IH.

Money is an illusion conjured up by by bankers and utilised by governments to drive economies based on empty promises and lies, unfortunately when the illusion shatters it's the ordinary people who suffer its lose every time.

stleger... what's the document you mentioned? Hadn't heard that one yet, fgs, we'd all love to go out to work but there have to be jobs to employ us for that to happen!

Sorry but I must say that I'm a little pissed off that a couple of people appear to be trying to blame this on the housing of asylum seekers. Asylum seekers are not to blame for this massive financial cluster fuck. I'm sick of people scapegoating immigrants and asylum seekers for their countries problems.

The IMF position paper was on the Nine O'Clock News last night and Morning Ireland. It contained various ideas such as mothers paying 5% less tax, cutting the minimum wage ( many wages use the minimum as a marker, my ds worked as a car park attendant in his school on Adult Ed evenings - he was on minimum wage plus 2 euros, so earned more than me when he was 17. ) Also gradually reducing benefits over time, so people are more likely to return to work.

Maybe they spent all their own money on explosives to blow up parts of England with!

I think the arrival of a huge number of people from the new 'accession states' skewed the picture in the middle of a construction boom - as more and more young people arrived (many with children) increasing numbers of houses were developed. And many usually sane people thought that buying a house to let to Poles was the way to riches. Regarding 'How much is your house worth this week?' questions, I worked in England in the eighties, we left in 1988, and the same thing was happening - many of my friends were hit with negative equity and unemployment in the early nineties. Re exports to Ireland - my local shopping centres have Boots, Marks, Tesco, Next, Zara, Claires, Debenhams and the rest. Laura Ashley in Dublin has just sold its property to Disney - our Main Streets are a haven of imports from many places. I work in a bookshop (while I still have a job) and about 80% of our stock is British published, even the Irish authors.

(By the way, many people from other countries have the same attitude and enterprise that Irish emigrants had to USA,Australia etc. in the past. Many also work very hard in PAYE jobs, and have a huge amount to contribute. My own family tree has two lots of Huguenots who were asylum seekers a few hundred years ago).

I haven't read every page as only just seen this. Why help? Because we can. FDR said 'if your neighbour's house is on fire you don't haggle over the cost of the garden hose'. If you're feeling altruistic, it's because it's the right thing to do, if you're not, it's because you don't want the fire to spread to your own house. Either way, you put out the fire.

D

What might be of interest is the number of marriages in Ireland in recent years between EU nationals (mostly women from Baltic states)and men from countries like Pakistan. Registrars had no legal right to question the couple on the validity of the marriage - it was unforeseen. It is a way around new UK legislation on immigration.

Is he an EU national and are you? (And how is married life?)

"Maybe they spent all their own money on explosives to blow up parts of England with!"

Do fuck off theres a dear. Unfunny, moronic, and factually bollocks.

(I kind of wondered if it was some sort of racist thing about asylum seekers...) It is very cold and grey here today, I am very depressed with a situation I didn't cause, and I don't know anyone who caused it. Everyone I know has worked hard as a family (inside the home or outside), done their best to pay rent and mortgages, pay off loans, maybe have a holiday abroad or buy a mobile home. I know two families with a holiday home abroad, and two people who did Christmas shopping in New York. And I don't even know them very well!