Groundhog Day
And there lies the inconsistency. You cannot have a low-tax, capitalistic, business friendly political climate and, at the same time, have a social model that supports good quality health services, education and transport infrastructure, and subsidized access to Irish soccer internationals. Something has to give.
And now is the time it is starting to give. Slowly it is starting to dawn on the people of this country that they have been sold a pup. The good times have come and gone and left most people with few of the benefits and most of the headaches. Sure, wages have increased and more people are in employment but inflation is rampant raising the cost of living to ridiculous heights, hospital wards are being shut down due to lack of funds, road projects are lying unfinished and now we cannot even enjoy the simple pleasures of watching the national team.
And it’s still raining.
I wrote this in the aftermath of the last general election when the giant sandcastles of pre-election promises were being washed away in the tide of an economic downturn. Past performance is no guarantee of future blah-blah but signs are that the tide is coming back in. This time the sandcastles are bigger but they’re still made of sand.
Mark Waters marked time at 9:25 am on May 17th, 2007 .
