Don't Panic Mr.Manwaring!

God bless Dad's Army - Clive Dunn especially.
We could all do with some of his advice right now.

Since the last time, let's look what happended
- new house builds in Ireland have fallen to 20,000
- the US government has had to bail out Fannie Mae
- world economies have slowed

and everyones in debt.

Well the last one hasn't changed really we were all in debt anyhow because everyone was getting mortages for overpriced houses in a booming economy, hey wait a second! there appears to be a link here!

In the last 20 years from the dreadful 1980's there has been a complete turnaround in fortunes - mostly for you and me;in the 1980's the Irish government was up to its ears in debt and Joe Public had stashed his cash under the bed or in the Caymans(depending on the traditional social divide).

Since then the government has horse traded in cash, overpayed in public initiatives( staffing levels in civil service, how much per kilometre for motorways??? and national wage agreements) and we have all borrowed to the hilt on mortages (to pay for the expensive tracts of land) and flash cars.

Well its all come home to roost folks - but not all is lost.

Remember the government is good for quite a large wedge of money to support any difficulties in the next 24 months, we just need to be realistic.

There has been no way that Ireland Inc could continue the way it was
- near full employment
- mass immigration to cope with the worklevels
- buying cars to the value of small houses and
- paying €120 for a meal for two and a cheap bottle of plonk.

We will still be on a par with last year in terms of growth (flat or down 1% is still a result folks) and the government is in a good position.

Yes we need to trim wage increases.
Yes we need to trim public sector costs.
Yes we need to privide services and invest in the future.

But we all need to look at this - the Irish have become snooty in that they feel they are above certain jobs(fast food outlets and cleaning services are two that come to mind); but in the new world no job can be below me, no job too small and do I really need to have two foreign holidays a year(forgiving the Irish weather and costs of holidaying at home).

A couple of questions
- does it matter the year that is one my reg plate?
- What's wrong with spending time at home with my kids?
- who cares if my next door neighbour is sending their kids to private school?
- why should I get more money for doing the same thing as I did last year?

Reality bites- but its not the end of the world.