What a beautiful morning? I had breakfast, took a short stroll and then read an amazing fairy tale written by somebody in the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
Well, not the actual document but media reports on the report. Here’s my translation of just some of the chapters of this amazing fairy tale.
The captain of RMS Titanic sits down with his (ESRI) advisors to discuss the condition of the ship (of state).
Chapter One:
Next year, the ESRI forecasts a return to growth of 2.75%, led by the export sector.
Translation:
Captain, although the ship is at a complete stop and water is flooding across the bow we expect to be underway at a speed of 2.75% very soon.
Chapter two:
The Institute also said the cost of saving the banking system was manageable and it warned that a rejection of the Croke Park agreement on pay and reform by public service unions could lead to higher borrowing costs for the Government.
Translation:
Don’t worry about that iceberg we struck about an hour ago captain. The damage caused to the hull is manageable and we’ve warned the dead bodies in the flooded compartments that they must agree to our new conditions on pay and reform.
Chapter Three:
The ESRI says the cost of NAMA and the bank recapitalisations is manageable, but should never have been incurred in the first place.
Translation:
But, asks a worried captain, shouldn’t we take a closer look at the damaged hull?
Captain, please, everything is under control. The collision with the iceberg is not part of the ship’s voyage plan therefore it never happened in the first place.
The media reports on the report are bizarre. The ERSI is actually highly critical of the government policy in most of the report.