The reality is that there are people who need and appreciate the money much better than them !!

Re: the minimum wage I think that there is some merit in the idea of looking at or debating the consequences of reducing the minimum wage but only for new employees. There again, we were shockingly bad at policing the existing employee protection legislation that was out there vis-a-vis GAMA and the like so while the idea in principle has merit it would also be very open to exploitation.

On the side of political organisational side of this, I wonder if we might see someone mobilise the under 25s in a positive way that would give them future leverage.

And I’m a private sector worker – actually, small business owner – who’s outraged by the budget. But that’s because I indulge in silly student union things like “empathy”. Not to mention rather wondering how people are going to buy my clients’ stuff so they can pay us.

@Colm you can’t do the free-market thing on one hand and then expect people to act irrationally on the other. If I’ve trained as a doctor and some nice person in a distant land is willing to pay me a reasonable wage to do some doctoring then I’m out of here if the alternative is minimum wage here. Screw patriotism, especially when the state is making it perfectly clear it doesn’t give a crap about me.

Secondly don’t pay social welfare to able bodied young men and women without dependants who have never contributed a cent in taxes in their lives. That way labour supply and labour demand will more likely mean less youth unemployment.

Assuming you’re really serious about tackling the problem rather than indulging in a student union debate style ‘bash the capitalists’ rant. Though that can be fun too …

BTW: I haven’t met a single private sector worker who was ‘outraged’ by the budget. Most were very happy with it. Or are we all indulging in confirmation bias?

Maybe they didn’t contribute to the bubble but had they paid for their college education like they do in most other countries then maybe the country would not be quite as broke as it is now.

At most half a billion could be raised in college fees. Or just about twice what was given away to the publicans and drunks across the land in the last budget.

The knock-on effect off fees in the form of reduced consumption tax yields and declining third level participation rates would eat up most of that “gain”.

Certainly you’ll find the number of young people who have not availed of a very expensive free education will be very small. Maybe they didn’t contribute to the bubble but had they paid for their college education like they do in most other countries then maybe the country would not be quite as broke as it is now.

Colman:
Whats wrong with architects and doctors forced to work professionally for minimum wage? If that’s the going rate then perhaps ordinary working people will be able to afford to avail of their services. There is an argument that after availing of the most expensive education in the state then Doctors should work for low wages in a public health system for a number of years to pay back that debt to society.

We need people willing to roll up their sleves and get stuck in to the hard work. If they don’t want to do that then they can follow their heros Jedward off to the UK in search of a quick buck.

And watch the dependency ratio among those left behind inexorably rise.

Until eventually even the grey vote won’t save the OAPs from cuts, because there will be too few decently-earning young pups left behind to carry the cost.

This sort of reverse Logan’s Run strategy is not even in long-term interests of the pensioners themselves.

“The OAP has paid their dues and contributed far more to the tax pool than they have taken out.”

That may or may not be true. Depends on the OAP. Maybe they spent their life dodging taxes. Or maybe, as so many did, they fucked off to the UK for a decade or two until the economy here picked up.

The rational decision for a young, highly trained person is to migrate to where they can get decently paid jobs. Watch them go.

The difference between the old and the young is that 40 years ago the OAP did the cr@ppy job for sh1tty wages. The OAP has paid their dues and contributed far more to the tax pool than they have taken out.

Well maybe some did, but there are plenty who didn’t .. who had a lifetime on welfare, or were self-employed and paid very little tax. Or are pulling in more now on a public service pension than they ever earned during their careers. After maybe cashing in their property chips at just the right time.

But there’s one sure thing we can say about those ungrateful pups of whom you speak. They’re one of the few groups in this society who really had no culpability in the inflating or the bursting of the bubble. Unless you think the teenage Drummies’ spending in Abercrombie & Fitch was a major factor in the bubble economy?

If you aren’t willing to do that then I’m quite happy to say the message is “Leave! And don’t let the door hit you on the arse on the way out”

Ah, the sweet music of ladders being pulled up after one’s own ascent. The insider-outsider model is alive and well.