The "Success" (Ha!) of the Irish Economy

The "Celtic Tiger"...and the lessons thereof, or why conservatives would prefer drawing the wrong conclusion.

In conservative framing, Ireland represents both an ideal we should strive for, and omen we should heed. That framing omits one important element. What conservatives idealize about the Irish economy is also what’s most ominous.

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Ireland, Paul Krugman noted, got into its current mess by traveling almost exactly the same economic path as the U.S. And it is where we could end up, if we stay on that path — which is what conservative policy would have us do; complete with further deregulating of already out-of-control banks, and inflicting harsh, job-killing spending cuts on the rest of the population. It hasn’t been the recipe for recovery in Ireland and it won’t be here.

Republic of T reports.