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lofty · Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 65 Location: north mayo

All i seem to hear in the media is negativity with "economic downturn" and "Diesel prices" being the most common lines since who shot jr. Has anybody any opinions on this and can they see any change on the horizon

quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

As we can obviously see, there is a major "economic downturn" but the economies of all the major countries have a cyclical feature which is driven mostly by speculators and "the markets".

Too many money grabbers are betting on the markets and driving up, artificially, the value and price of basic goods. They then shift their target market and shares drop in value over night and pension funds get hit. As reported in the media the other day, the speculators drove up the price of crude oil, so the Saudis decided to up their output to bring the prices down and what happened, the price went up again. The commodity dealers forced this to make profits and we pay the price.

If we all hold tight and look after the pennies we will get through this in another couple of years. I have seen it happen every 5 to 7 years since the late 1970s. If it got really bad we would move to Southern France as the cost of living there is about half of what it is here in Rip Off Ireland.

More and more people who moved here in the 70s and 80s are selling up and moving back to Germany and the UK as it costs too much to live here, also Sterling will not come back up as the Euro is now the trading currency of Europe, so if your pension is paid in Sterling.........

Grow your own and try to be as self sufficient as possible.

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

I think that Ireland is in a better position to weather the storm providing there is jobs enough to pay the mortgage etc. I am no expert in high finance but after going through the 70/80s crash in the UK it seems to me that credit being made too freely available is a major contributor to a countries down turn. Unrealistic house prices, easy credit, good wages cannot be sustained indefinitely. Loose your job and the s**t hits the fan,
I understand that at the moment Ireland gives favourable tax rates to encourage foreign companies to move over here. I would not think that it would be a smart move to sign this away in some sort of treaty or such.
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lofty · Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 65 Location: north mayo

certainly the house prices couldnt continue to rise at the rate they were going. It is quite interesting to see builders dropping the price of houses a and still making money. It just shows ya what incredible profit margins they had in the past.

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

This is the start of the vicious house price circle. Developers cant wait a year or so for a sale so they drop their prices. This then puts the pressure on the private seller as a new house can be brought cheaper than his, and so it goes on. As long as jobs are not threatened, mortgages are paid then the market will stabilise me thinks.
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tringle · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject:

We are not in an economic downturn, if you look at the figures we are still growing just at a slower rate.

Scaremongering isnt going to help, but we cannot continue the mad spending that has happened over the past 5 to 8 years. It is a natural cycle and all will settle soon. Yes, its bad for anyone trying to sell a house right now (ME for example), and its going to be a bit tougher on anyone in the contruction trade will a slow down and less work (my son for instance). But the economy is strong and will not fall back to the situation that we went through in the 80's.

Those that worked hard here through the 80s and then reaped the benefits in late nineties and noughties will be able to see this, the country is better off than it has been ever, what is currently happening is a natural loss of dead weight.
Those that just came cos things were good and want to run somewhere better when things get bad deserve to be scared, no effort in means no benfit out.
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Graney · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 81 Location: East Clare

One thing that IS happening as a result of the downturn is that we are at last getting some of the kind of price competition in the shops that I was familiar with in the UK.

It staggered me when I first came over here the kind of prices people were happy to pay in the shops and stores - right across the board, from food to DIY materials and utilities. And no-one seemed to really shop around or make any effort to take advantage of offers or discounts.

In the UK we got used to playing supermarkets, petrol stations, electricity providers, insurance companies off one against another. And the result was prices on average 17% lower than in Ireland.

It's about time some of that consumer power was applied in Ireland. If it takes a downturn to do it, then so be it. we'll all be the better for it in the end.

keithrawlins · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 152 Location: banbridge

i lost my job in sept and have been tryingvery hard to get a new one , i phonedabout a labourers job 30 miles away and was told by theboss over300 pepole appliedfor the one job ,and that it had already gone but i asked him to keep me in mind foranything else ifit came up and told him what experiance i had and certs ,heoffered me another job there and then at 200 a month more than theone i called about.so sell your self and there are jobs out there if you look hard enouth

dara · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 186 Location: Mayo

I would'nt have been so gloomy back in June but Yes things are really looking grim. I've had no work (i'm a designer, packaging mostly) since last November. But looking at it from another angle my wife is doing a degree in one of the sciences (yawn) and I've decided to go back to school to do a BA in fine art. I would'nt have dreamed of doing it this time last year and i'm excited - for the first time in a long time !
Just to say not everything in Ireland is ideal but the adult education opportunities and the support offered are brilliant.

quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

Nice one Dara. Always a silver lining !