General election 2020 (2 Viewers)

[ernesto]

The fact that hardly anyone votes for the cunts is what keeps them out. If anything our electoral system should serve to aid fringe parties.

It should serve to aid fringe parties but it doesn’t. Thankfully the left isn’t a fringe party

 

[Lili Marlene]

Do you think we'd have fewer people homeless if we had a reduced MNC presence here?

I think that if the wave of investment money that artificially props up house prices here was removed then we would have less homeless, yes. I do not know the exact correlation between that and MNCs being that they exist in a lot of different forms.

 

[Unicron]

I’m pretty sure It’s allowed us to have kept ending up with political
Parties that are so similar always is power

Our system means that nazis can vote nazi without "throwing away their vote." If we had a system like the UK they'd be going, "I really want to vote Nazi, but I'm going to end up voting Fine Gael." And the nazi's polled around 2% last week.

 

[ernesto]

Our system means that nazis can vote nazi without "throwing away their vote." If we had a system like the UK they'd be going, "I really want to vote Nazi, but I'm going to end up voting Fine Gael." And the nazi's polled around 2% last week.

Quoting a friend:
‘the good and bad thing about the Irish system was that it protected against extremists but also no matter what happened you ended up with essentially the same thing’

which is mostly true with SF being obviously now the exception.

sorry I don’t more Time to get in to it

damn work

 

[ann post]

Eclipsed by the US and Japan. Do you think they are poor countries?

It doesn't matter to me, I can't qualify having a bit of cash as rich if it is A: insecure B: not showing in basic needs like health and housing C: only there on the whim of us being allowed to pay low debt amounts back D: entirely dependent on a tax network completely out of our hands E: showing no signs of decoupling from oil based existence. Essentially I can't call jerking off on coke as a society without any though for the morning after as being rich. We also are importing food FYI. We have a high minimum wage compared to europe and it doesn't get you a home, that is volatile AF. One blip and everyone is defaulting to emigrationville. This is not rich, its just big numbers doing fuck all.

 

[egg_]

I think that if the wave of investment money that artificially props up house prices here was removed then we would have less homeless, yes. I do not know the exact correlation between that and MNCs being that they exist in a lot of different forms.

Yeah
hmmm
(throws hands in the air)

House prices are so complicated. Do we have investors buying places up to do nothing with them, and just making money off land price inflation, like they do in London/Vancouver/wherever? If we do then yeah let's fucking put a stop to that

Corporations like FB/Google/Amazon drive up house prices too by paying their skilled staff well, and by importing lots of workers (a friend in google says only something like 25% of the staff are Irish). I can't in good conscience object to that

 

[Lili Marlene]

Follow your horn, Grace Blakely is on my side

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[hugh]

House prices are so complicated. Do we have investors buying places up to do nothing with them, and just making money off land price inflation, like they do in London/Vancouver/wherever? If we do then yeah let's fucking put a stop to that

That's absolutely what's happening (though I'm sure it's not the sole cause of the housing crisis). As I understand it, there is virtually no disincentive for investors to simply sit on land, wait for it to go up in value, and sell it on. It's a lot easier to make money by doing that as opposed to actually something useful .. like building houses.

So, if by "places" you mean land (or land with derelict buildings on them) then I think the answer is yes.

 

[hermie]

It doesn't matter to me, I can't qualify having a bit of cash as rich if it is A: insecure B: not showing in basic needs like health and housing C: only there on the whim of us being allowed to pay low debt amounts back D: entirely dependent on a tax network completely out of our hands E: showing no signs of decoupling from oil based existence. Essentially I can't call jerking off on coke as a society without any though for the morning after as being rich. We also are importing food FYI. We have a high minimum wage compared to europe and it doesn't get you a home, that is volatile AF. One blip and everyone is defaulting to emigrationville. This is not rich, its just big numbers doing fuck all.

So wealth is what you do with money rather than the having of it? Makes no sense. You're just redefining terms to suit yourself. Fair enough carry on. But I think it's pretty insulting to poorer nations to be that disingenuous about it.

Also as a small, island nation we will always, always be dependent global forces beyond our control for our existence. Unless you're suggesting self-sufficiency. We tried that, you might have seen Angela's Ashes.

 

[hermie]

That's absolutely what's happening (though I'm sure it's not the sole cause of the housing crisis). As I understand it, there is virtually no disincentive for investors to simply sit on land, wait for it to go up in value, and sell it on. It's a lot easier to make money by doing that as opposed to actually something useful .. like building houses.

So, if by "places" you mean land (or land with derelict buildings on them) then I think the answer is yes.

It's a huge part of the housing crisis. There should be disincentives, massive ones. A lot to do with government policy, very little to do with large corporations.

 

[sleepy]

It's a huge part of the housing crisis. There should be disincentives, massive ones. A lot to do with government policy, very little to do with large corporations.

I'd nearly argue that one of the main drivers of crazy rental prices in Ireland is the HAP scheme, which in it's essence seems to be the Government paying out massive amounts of money to private landlords, rather than directing the money towards building social housing. It's had the 2 pronged effect of allowing the Government to look like they're doing something about the homelessness crisis while actually bailing out private landlords (some of whom are, funnily enough, sitting TDs) who mad very poor investment decisions during the Celtic Tiger era.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Howlin's resigning

That's Kelly in as leader so

 

[hugh]

Corporations like FB/Google/Amazon drive up house prices too by paying their skilled staff well, and by importing lots of workers (a friend in google says only something like 25% of the staff are Irish). I can't in good conscience object to that

It's a huge part of the housing crisis. There should be disincentives, massive ones. A lot to do with government policy, very little to do with large corporations.

True, it's more to do with the mechanics of international capitalism and investment practices. But when you combine this with large influxes of highly-paid employees of these large corporations into certain areas and these workers can afford rents that most others can't then you got two factors feeding into the crisis.

By the way, Egg's comment appeared up there by accident because I was going to reply to it earlier and then didn't. It's relevant though so I'm leaving it there now.

 

[hermie]

Quoting a friend:
‘the good and bad thing about the Irish system was that it protected against extremists but also no matter what happened you ended up with essentially the same thing’

which is mostly true with SF being obviously now the exception.

sorry I don’t more Time to get in to it

damn work

I think our system inhibits a polarisation of the vote as you see in countries with FPTP but it doesn't stop people from voting for extremists per se. The opposite in fact, as Unicron points out. Which is why the number of people voting for right-wing or far-right candidates in terms of the popular vote in this election was quite remarkable. Certainly an outlier in Europe.

 

[egg_]

But when you combine this with large influxes of highly-paid employees of these large corporations into certain areas and these workers can afford rents that most others can't then you got two factors feeding into the crisis.

Yeah. Just wanna check ... nobody here is proposing we do away with the highly-paid jobs, or prevent highly-paid foreign workers coming here, are they?

 

[hermie]

True, it's more to do with the mechanics of international capitalism and investment practices. But when you combine this with large influxes of highly-paid employees of these large corporations into certain areas and these workers can afford rents that most others can't then you got two factors feeding into the crisis.

By the way, Egg's comment appeared up there by accident because I was going to reply to it earlier and then didn't. It's relevant though so I'm leaving it there now.

International capitalism or neo-liberalism? I'm sure you'll say both but I would argue more the latter. And as egg was quick to point out, the less said about the influx of people the better. Let's not even go there.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Howlin's resigning

That's Kelly in as leader so

Going for Ceann Comhairle?

 

[Lili Marlene]

Yeah. Just wanna check ... nobody here is proposing we do away with the highly-paid jobs, or prevent highly-paid foreign workers coming here, are they?

Highly-paid is all relative. I know a fair few Spanish and Italian people who live in Dublin who would rather be back home but there's no work there. They can just about get by in a house-share working for a tech company here but they're not exactly making enough to save and a lot of them are on very precarious contracts. Freedom of movement often just boils down to freedom of cheap labour with little protections.

 

[hydromancer]

Howlin won't back any candidate in Labour race

Brendan Howlin has announced that he is stepping down as leader of the Labour Party in the next few weeks.

www.rte.ie

First leader to step down

 

[therealjohnny]

One of these guys worked with me

Exclusive: 45 people, 1 shower, up to 10 in a room... the harsh reality of life in a Dublin flat

A BUILDING located in the heart of Dublin's Temple Bar is being rented to up to 45 people - and it is understood they are each paying €200 per month cash to live there.

www.independent.ie