POPE LASHES CAPITALISM [AGAIN]

The new Pope has again stirred it up with his latest comments on capitalism….stating that “Free market economics had created a tyranny, in which people were valued only by their ability to consume, the pontiff told diplomats in the Vatican”. It is the third such comment from the Pontiff and surely must now indicate that this is a priority issue for him. The Pontiff referring to austerity claimed that “People struggled to live, and frequently in an undignified way, under the dictatorship of an economy which lacked any real human goal” He further denounced capitalism and even linked it to biblical passages stating that ” the “worship of the golden calf” of old had found a new and heartless image in the current cult of money”.

It must now be getting rather uncomfortable for those that claim to be devout Catholics yet are also fanatical in their support for ‘free markets’. One wonders how people such as John Bruton, who recently said that it was time for “the public to tighten their belts and put up with austerity will respond to the teachings of the Pope, who has now denounced such an approach.

There is no doubt that if the Pope continues with such comments and teachings, many of the devout followers may be forced to nail their colours to the mast…..religion or ideology!

 

WEALTHY EX TAOISEACH ON 140,000 EURO PENSION TELLS US TO “TIGHTEN OUR BELTS”

Reported in INDO that “FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton told the public to tighten their belts and put up with austerity, as he poured scorn over President Michael D Higgins’s call for relief”. So this man that once wanted to tax CHILDRENS SHOES  Mr Bruton – who enjoys a €140,000 pension and is now a lobbyist for the IFSC – insisted Irish people must get used to living with less.

Quite ironic too that Bruton gets to spread his message in the INDO, the newspaper group that only recently received a multi million euro debt write down courtesy of the Irish people….

Well I assume that Bruton knows that with him getting a huge pension and the wealthy shareholders such as Denis O Brien and Tony O Reilly getting millions in debt write downs, of course there is every chance that others will have to “tighten their belts and put up with austerity”, reminds me of what a famous lady once said “let them eat cake”

 

THAT JOBBRIDGE REPORT……

The ‘Labour’ minister that provides ‘free labour’ was on the high horse yesterday to inform us of the success of the JobBridge scheme. Although if one was to judge from the comments section of this article “38 per cent of JobBridge interns go straight into full-time jobs” success is the last word one would use to describe the schemes effectiveness.

The report was the final draft of a report that provided an interim analysis in Oct 2012. That analysis has been subject to sceptical reviews available here and here 

While the above articles cast doubt over the findings of the report, there are also issues which the report does little to address, namely the concerns expressed by the Communications Workers’ Union Youth Committee in Nov 2012,

• The scheme depresses job creation by creating a pool of free labour for employers
• The scheme is inherently exploitative and young people are particularly vulnerable
• The scheme will inevitably result in job displacement
• The scheme puts downward pressure on wage levels across all sectors of the economy
• The scheme is being used to fill the labour gap in the public sector created by the current recruitment embargo
• All workers deserve to be paid for their labour

Coincidently those concerns listed above seem to concur with the comments expressed in the Journal.ie article, some of the comments are listed below……

“Delighted to say I am happily in fulltime employment with the company I spent my 9month placement with seems they are few and far between!!

“Job bridge is a complete scam which allows the abuse of an unemployed person for 9 months , the companies profiting from this scheme should be named shamed and boycotted . The other thing it contributes to is keeping skilled and educated people out of work  by filling the position with a €50 euro a week worker” .

“it’s forcing skilled workers into underpaid, non unionised labour by threatening to cut their dole entirely.Why the hell would companies hire full time workers when they get paid to take in interns for free! It’s a scam”.

The overwhelming majority of comments were negative about Jobbridge, maybe the Indecon people did’nt get the right sample!!!!!

However at the end of the day the success rate for Jobbridge will be determined by the number of people that wish to participate, no one is forced to do so. There is no doubt many younger participants will take a chance on an internship in the hope of landing a full time position and of course the experience will add to their CV. The high drop out rate is perhaps indicative of participants realising during their internship that they were in an exploitative situation with no hope of gaining from it. Furthermore “only 41% of internships were completed in full, 33% of those who did not complete the scheme cited “dissatisfaction” with JobBridge as the reason for dropping out.

Perhaps now though it is more important to focus on the ill-effects of such schemes, as a graduate I am reliably informed that many new graduates emigrating to find work have expressed disgust at Jobbridge, viewing it as an extra impediment in their attempts to find well paid employment at home. This is reflected by the analysis that states “ 6.2% of “hosts” said they would have been highly likely to have offered paid employment to JobBridge interns in the absence of the scheme, while 22.6% indicated that they would have been fairly likely to. There are also opinions that the scheme is being exploited by many public sector organisations.

However I would challenge any member of the Labour Party to stand over a scheme that would allow the following to occur

“This internship thing is slave labour simple as. I recently dropped out after 3 weeks of a 6 month internship. Basically I was told I would be monitored by the warehouse manager which did’nt happen because the place was so busy. Now despite that I have to say I picked up on most things pretty quickly and by the second week I was working just as hard and as good as the other full time lads that were there. So i thought hang on a minute im being exploited here. I mean they could have taken me on for at least minimum wage starting off. My contract ended just after christmas and it dawned on me that there just planning on using me as free labour for their busy christmas period then drop me afterwards. Im not suprised to hear 75% of participants dropped out, its hard to give much effort everyday in a job that your not getting paid for and in the back of your mind thinking constantly theres no guarantee of a job, it messes with your mind because your thinking im working flat out but im still unemployed, w.t.f!!!

On average the lads that worked there would have been getting about 10 euro per hour, so I reckon in just those three weeks I was there I made that boss 1200 richer paid for in my sweat. If there was no internship scheme they would have to train new recruits eventually and pay them a full time wage anyway so the internship changes nothing in fact it just makes it longer for the jobless rate to go down as there all just jumping on this internship bandwagon!”

James Connolly must be turning in his grave !!!

 

 

 

 

 

Bangladesh ‘slave labour’ condemned by Pope

Pope Francis has denounced as “slave labour” the conditions of workers caught in a deadly building collapse in Bangladesh last week according to the BBC. In a strongly worded address the new pontiff went on to say that ” Today in the world this slavery is being committed against something beautiful that God has given us – the capacity to create, to work, to have dignity”. Furthermore in an obvious swipe at capitalism he stated  “Not paying a fair wage, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking to make a profit, that goes against God,”

The Pontiff also said he ”had been shocked by reports that some of the labourers had been paid just 38 euros ($50) a month”.

Perhaps food for thought there then for many ‘free market’ fans that claim ‘a catholic ethos’!!

Update: Seems the Pontiff tweeted the next day

http://

My thoughts turn to all who are unemployed, often as a result of a self-centred mindset bent on profit at any cost.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) May 2, 2013

wonder how long before some of the ‘devout’ start the counter offensive!

CORPORATE WELFARE FOR THE SINDO GROUP

Generous Ireland has given a ‘dig out’ to INM the group that owns the Sunday and Irish Independent. According to RTE “A consortium of eight banks including state-owned AIB and Bank of Ireland has agreed to write off almost €140m in debt owed by Independent News and Media”

The two major shareholders in INM Denis O Brien and Anthony O Reilly must be pleased. Only recently I blogged about how “Mr O Brien is claiming he is not liable for an assessment to capital gains tax of €57.8m in the tax year 2000/2001“. Mr O Reilly meanwhile is a major shareholder in Providence Oil, who have a nice little oil field of the coast of Cork that is nearing the point where it will spew up oil and profits.

What will be interesting though, is how the SINDO will spin the story on Sunday…..my guess is that they will try and pin the blame on the public sector!

 

 

“Denis O’Brien fights Revenue over tax liability”

According to RTE “Denis O’Brien fights Revenue over tax liability” where Mr O Brien is claiming he is not liable for an assessment to capital gains tax of €57.8m in the tax year 2000/2001. So the man don’t wanna pay the tax…..but the company in which he is the major shareholder has no problem seeking some ‘corporate welfare’ by way of a debt write down

As the IT artice explains ” The debt deal negotiations between Independent News & Media (INM) and its eight banks, which include State-owned AIB and State-supported Bank of Ireland, are politically interesting not just because of the findings of the 2011 Moriarty tribunal report in relation to Denis O’Brien, but also because of his tax residency status”

So if I am reading this right, the story is that one of Irelands wealthiest men who “ as most people know, is INM’s largest shareholder [and who]in the course of his recent, successful libel case against the Irish Daily Mail, he said it was not correct to say that he was a tax exile, and that he paid his taxes in all the countries in which he operated”, is now refusing to pay an alleged tax bill because as his legal team argue ” Mr O’Brien’s family had moved to Portugal and did not have a home in Dublin during the tax year of 2000/2001. He added that “no stick of O’Brien furniture ever went into this house.”

 

 

 

A FEW FACTS YOU MISSED EH !

This article from eh, will tell us how the brave Maggie stood up to all kinds of dictators and ‘terrorists’……no sign though or any mention of this ….

or this

or this

or this

but then again, it is EH and it is the SINDO…. but EH …….

the truth will always come out……..perhaps not from “journalists” but from children on the streets