Monday 26 April 2010

USSR

That's 'Ulster Soviet Socialist Republic', of course – one of the last remaining examples of state control of the economy in the world. And it's getting worse rather than better:


The public sector in Northern Ireland will account for 69.2 % of total GDP in 2010-11. Even in communist Cuba the state accounts for only around 60 %. Northern Ireland is probably second only to North Korea worldwide in terms of state control of the economy.

David Cameron is right – the state share of the economy is too big – but he is too timid. The state share in Northern Ireland is grossly too big, and shows Northern Ireland to be an economic basket case of colossal proportions. Frazer Nelson, writing in The Spectator, has created a graph that shows how far off the scale of 'normality' the Northern Irish economy is:

The question is not whether there are cuts coming, because there are – but rather what people in Northern Ireland are going to do to get out of this hole of dependency. It is a disgraceful situation for any people to be in, and anyone who argues that this is 'normal' or 'justified' or even 'acceptable' is irresponsible.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

this is normal and justified, only joking

Anonymous said...

Sammy Mc Nally says,

where ar the fecking Jocks?

Anonymous said...

Now, horseman. Sein Fein on the other hand isn't socialist, neither would these fine gentlemen put a stateoriented economical policy to work in Ulster, would they? You root for a stop in gov't largesse, but even SF wouldn't bite the hand thats feeds. No?

Horseman said...

Anonymous,

Sinn Féin are probably more statist than anyone else, but who knows, since they don't exactly prioritise the economic aspects of their policy.

But if SF ran the country it would crash, that's for sure. Hence the need for something else - FF in the interim, but hopefully a new better party (or parties) further down the line.

More on this in a future blog, probably after the Westminster election.

Anonymous said...

I've always liked the welsh.