“But there is another model.  When I was young, Ireland was quite poor.  Articles were written explaining how the Irish poverty reflected some sort of flaw in the Irish culture, or even a lack of intelligence.  But then Ireland adopted a neoliberal economic model, and it has now become one of the richest countries in the world (although that’s a bit overstated, as its GDP exceeds its GNP due to heavy multinational investment.)  Still it’s a successful economy.”
http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=32284

https://www.facebook.com/truthful.irish/videos/1182049065174761/

We live in hope.

I wonder if the above protection racket will get more attention now Trump is in power.

Please don’t equate MMT with Positive Money or Ellen Brown.

There is no relationship.

I really hope this year brings you and yours, happiness and health. Your Friend. David

Still, there does appear to be change in the air, which I suspect will be casting a dark cloud over what were once blue skies for many of the above. Perhaps we are entering a kind of interregnum, which will eventually lead to something better once the tangled web of the old is at least partially unravelled. The forces behind this system will & are putting up a heated resistance to any threat to their feathered nests & like spoilt children, are accusing truth seekers of being the liars they are themselves & blaming everybody else for the present fiasco. Expecting them to have a deep look in their own mirrors, is of cause as pointless as it would have been to advise Midas of his folly.

I recently had an hour or so walk around Dublin city centre, which is a place I tend to visit only occasionally over the last 20 years. My main aim was to visit the NAMA property ” Apollo House “, which has been occupied in order to house some of the many homeless existing in a city that I remember as being in comparison to now, as being a lot more at ease with itself. I came across quite a few people who were basically begging, one in particular was an old lady. I had to go to an ATM, which happened to be opposite the front facade of Trinity college. She was sitting with her back to the wall of another Georgian building within a colanade. The scene was dying to be photographed, but when I asked her, she stated she would prefer me not to do so.

The scene reminded me of 2 things, the first being the old lady feeding the birds ( although she wasn’t ) from the film ‘ Mary Poppins ‘ & the struggling old lady featured in all 3 films of Kieslowky’s trilogy – ‘ Three Colours “. As I walked away I also remembered the question asked by the judge in the film ‘ Red ‘, when he asked Valentine whether she was in fact only helping the dog, in order to help herself – maybe my efforts are not really any different than let’s say, the above giving the odd charity ball for their favourite charity, Valentine was in fact, the only one of the 3 women in the trilogy to help the hunchbacked old lady to add to the bottlebank.

Anyhow, away from my probably pointless soul searching & back to the Apollo project. I think it is a small sign of hope, whatever the true motives of all of those involved, I feel it will put the Irish government on the back foot & perhaps in a Fabian sort of way, is something at a grassroots level, that can knock, if only slightly, a much bigger enemy off balance. The last time I looked there were over 60,000 likes on the ‘ Home Sweet Home ‘ FB page, which although they are probably not all Irish, is a significant number within such a small country. Those who consider concrete as more worthy assets than people, have given them till the 11th to get out, so they can supposedly demolish the place.

I think there is some promise in this, maybe only a small light, but as long as people are prepared to fight, I can I think wish the world a Hopeful New Year & beyond…..despite the odds.

http://melaniephillips.com/a-western-spring/

Let’s be honest, the real similarity with the 30s is the Left’s craven ineptitude. As Maurice Glasman points out below, it was the Left which called preparations to fight Hitler and Mussolini ‘social fascism’.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2016/11/things-dont-only-get-better-why-working-class-fell-out-love-labour

Mass immigration, multiculturalism and identity politics have all been massive boons to the global capitalist class. And as with our corrupt financial system they belong in the dustbin of history.

Happy Christmas and bring on 2017!

Speaking of crooks Kavy – Al Capone warned his friends to avoid the stock market prior to the Wall St. crash, declaring it the biggest racket ever. A stat quoted by Mark Blythe along the lines of:

In 2016, in the US seven years after being bailed out by the taxpayer, the total bonus payouts not including salaries etc for Wall Street bankers was 28.4 billion dollars. While the total wage for all of those in the US on minimum wage was around 14 billion.

Probably a similar story could be told for the UK, especially in terms of that cess pit of a bank RBS & of course unlike those small fry crooks like Capone & Luciano, nobody has done any time. Of course the banker sharp suits do not go around shooting people, but their enablers kill from a remove through austerity without getting their manicured hands in any way dirty.

Neoliberalism! A bunch of crooks. But the politicians go along with it. Tony Benn was great, but Hilary Benn? I don’t get it. At least Corbyn is decent.