Would You Like Some Help Digging That Boomerang Out of Your Face?

Mark Steyn dutifully quotes Steve Forbes; both demand that the Obama Administration copy the Irish government’s corporate tax scheme which they allege is totally awesome. Or else:

The growing gap between US corporate rates and other developed nations is a massive disincentivization for real human beings to start and grow a business here. And for those already here it encourages the kind of short-term thinking that leads to Bailoutistan and American sclerosis.

ZOMG I should just pack up now and go to the land of my ancestors, a near-glibertarian paradise where sound non-government has enriched not only the citzenry but, as per the Laffer curve, the government as well! Oh yes where Guinness falls from the sky and Lucky Charms grow on trees…

Except for this. And this.

Ireland’s bubbleburst, from my equally-as-inexpert-as-Steyn’s opinion, will be worse than ours. It’s true their economy boomed, but only because of a sort of Cayman Islands effect by which so many wealthy jackasses moved money from lands of higher tax rates. Cumulative incidental investment from a mass of weasels shirking their responsibility did the trick, not ‘higher returns’ because of the alleged infallibility of the Laffer theory. Ireland was like the Delaware of the Western World: it only worked not because it was right or because its particular structure was better or even sound, but because it was such an outlier. (The Times piece implies the relationship between Ireland and America and the EU was symbiotic; I think the better word is parasitic.) In effect it cheated its neighbors; now it’s ended up cheating itself. It too will get drastically Keynesian as it surveys the rubble, and the wealthy criminal class will then move like locusts to some other country whose government it can bribe or co-opt, unless… everybody gets together and agrees not to tax the bastards at any rate less than a certain amount.

Bonus Freedom-loving Fun: Click through to read Forbes gush over Libya’s recently-stated desire to become the new Singapore. Glibertarians love Singapore, as it is exactly the kind of authoritarian state that develops from school-of-Miltie policies; like Pinochet’s Chile, you can be killed there for next to nothing — your civil liberties there are for shit. But you have a large degree of economic freedom and power of property, which is the only thing people like Forbes care about. (Steyn has actually come to care about freedom of speech since it allows him to indulge his habit of smearing Muslims, a touchy point up Canada way.)

 

Comments: 42

 
 
 

They don’t want to be right, they just want to be loud.

 
 

Missed it by one minute, stoned hippie!!

Posted at 4:21 by HTML Mencken

 
 

I look forward to Irish cuisine flooding these shores.

 
 

Hey, unfair! They don’t kill people for next to nothing in Singapore, they just lock ’em up for a while. Maybe give ’em a good caning too.

 
 

And I thought the Irish economic miracle had something to do with pots of gold.

 
 

I stopped listening to Forbes a dozen years ago, when he used his magazine column to inform us that mandating higher fuel efficiency for vehicles would increase oil consumption because people would drive more. Yes, he actually said that. Prompting me to congratulate him for, perhaps unknowingly, coming up with the solution to oil dependency: simply mandate LOWER fuel economy for vehicles. Then consumption would surely go down!
An idiot with a lot of money is a dangerous thing.

 
 

Wotta maroon Stain is. I certainly don’t keep up w/ this finance/economics bullcrap, but I knew long ago that the bog-monkeys were hurting.

Do they still not tax “creative” income on the Emerald Isle? That may have been the first mistake they made.

 
Calming Influence
 

“One word: canes.”

 
 

they just lock ‘em up for a while. Maybe give ‘em a good caning too

That’s what they do for nothing. Try dropping a Twix wrapper on the street. The camera spots you, & it’s “On your way, now” to death row.

simply mandate LOWER fuel economy for vehicles. Then consumption would surely go down!

The Laffer Curve strikes again!!

 
 

Well, Ireland has no income tax for writers, so I’m down widdit. The wife, however, isn’t keen on moving to Galway.

 
 

Have a gander at this useless OECD 2008 economic survey of Ireland published in April 2008, and its recommendation to restrain wages and put the tax burden on labour. It’s also a fine example of the oft-used bullshit phrase “strong economic fundamentals.”
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/38/12/40448199.pdf

 
 

So what! A story in the New York Times and another in some Chinese paper about how bad business is going over in Ireland.
Big Deal!!
What did you expect from these Commies? Larry Kudlow & Stevie Forbes say things are going great over there and that is all that counts.

 
 

Yeah, while Ireland was making money hand over fist Fianna Fail went a little kleptocratic, and so nobody in power asked what would happen when the party ended or considered Public Policy 101.

Dublin kept sprawling wider and wider and so the government kept building highways, but there was very little transit or smart growth, so if you’re not rich you’re now a two-plus hour car commute from your job. They basically rebuilt Atlanta except with more cold rain.

By European standards the healthcare system is pretty shitty too.

 
 

I’ve admired Steve Forbes ever since Neil Armstrong first set foot on his face.

 
 

It’s almost like Forbes and Steyn want the US to engage Ireland and other countries in some sort of downward competition, which I will call a “race” for short on tax rates toward the floor, or bottom you could perhaps call it.

But this wild theory of mine requires one to believe the preposterous notion that conservatives would disingenuously promote policies which benefit the few at expense of the whole while claiming the opposite.

 
 

My father can attest: Singapore only works because it’s so small. They apparently have something called the Ministry of Happiness (or something) over there; let your imagination take you from there.

 
 

(oh, right, the reason why he can attest is that he does business there)

 
 

the bog-monkeys were hurting.

bog-monkeys? For fuck’s sake. My entire family tree resembles that remark.

 
 

My entire family tree resembles that remark.

Gee, you libs sure are tolerant of “real” (that is, applied against “white” people) racism. I mean, it took someone long enough to react.

Wouldn’t you all be “tree-monkeys,” then? (Which seems redundant, somehow.)

 
 

And I thought Steyn hated all things European, us bunch of Islam loving types.

Your right about the Irish ‘miracle’, more parasitic than clever economics. Behaved just like a Monaco with Guinness, and its going to be a long way down from here!

Glibertarians love Singapore, as it is exactly the kind of authoritarian state that develops from school-of-Miltie policies; like Pinochet’s Chile, you can be killed there for next to nothing — your civil liberties there are for shit

Yes, your civil liberties are for shit, but killed for next to nothing, bollocks. Perhaps in Thailand or Indonesia, but no Singapore. In any event, Singapore has lightened up a bit in the last few years, its hardly the Asian Orwellian nightmare. Bit boring, yes, but hardly Pinochet’s Chile.”

 
 

Hmmm, I wonder if this will have any effect on Ireland’s clout in the EU? I seem to remember the Irish have a big say in some really important EU vote a couple years ago. If I remember right they were kind of being a dick about it. Wonder if they’ll come to regret that?

 
 

I’m from Minnesota so I guess that makes me a snow monkey. I guess I don’t mind. Twenty below zero, that’s different.

 
 

noen,

Unfortunately, not really. Due to the way the EU works, big treaty’s need to be ratified by all countries in the EU, sometimes by parliaments, sometimes by referendums. The referendum gives the public a chance to whine and moan about things, like the Irish did last year, and the Dutch & French did a couple of years ago. Screws everything up for all the others, although some argue that it allows monied vested interests an unwarranted input. i.e. some backers of the Irish no vote last year were ‘interesting’.

 
 

Such as Libertas, which is reputedly funded by a US defence contractor.

 
 

I thought they still executed people for any amount of drug possession there. If not then my bad.

 
 

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=15101
Singapore: Report exposes highest execution rate in the world
Posted: 14 January 2004

Oh, and don’t forget the poisonings.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17202
On 3 December Dr Chee was transferred to hospital to undergo tests after the prison’s doctor found traces of blood in his urine and low blood pressure. Dr Chee had reportedly suffered nausea, strong headaches and abdominal pain. Due to his concern that his symptoms were being caused by the food he was being given in prison Dr Chee had refused to eat prison food since 26 November. He resumed eating while in hospital. Dr Chee was discharged from hospital on 7 December and transferred back to prison.

Top ten countries for executions
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=15299
Only 10! That’s not too bad. Oh wait, they have a population of 4.8m. So that’s equivalent to the US executing 625 people or China executing 2500 (they executed 800 or so).

But apart from that they’re fine. No litter.

 
Leon Trotsky, Exile-in-Mexico
 

Pssht, 625? Texas could knock that out in a month. Singapore’s for pussies, man.

 
 

And I thought Steyn hated all things European, us bunch of Islam loving types.

He really likes the way Europeans talk, at least.

 
 

“Disincentivization”??!?? Holy fuck, my head just exploded.

I know and loathe “incentivize” as a prime example of moronic MBA-type jargon. I guess disincentivize isn’t any worse than incentizive; at least having that “word” around helps me filter out the assholes who’ve never heard of “encourage”.

But really, disincentivization? You’ve just nouned a verbed noun. The word you’re looking for, shit for brains, is “disincentive”. Jesus, 16,900 Google hits for “disincentivization”. What the hell is wrong with these people? There needs to be some jail time as a disincentivizationalism for mangling the language like this; plus, anybody who’d use this jargon probably played a major role in the economic mess we’re in and deserves jail time for that.

 
 

Low hanging fruit, these wingnuts. It’s time they come up with some wildass claims that take more to disprove than just Googling newspaper articles. They ought to know there is an already accepted realm of unprovable/undisprovable discourse — religion! If they stop treating economics, foreign policy, medical care and military strategy as equivalent to religion, and stick to religion itself, the Sady,Noes! will have to work harder or pack up shop.

But since that will never happen, wank on, wingers! Refute on, S,N!

 
 

In fairness, there were good reasons for voting against the EU treaty – it tended to screw over labour at the expense of management and the unions were none too fond of it.

The fact that there were alsoa lot of right-wingers opposed is not surprising. The EU is run by the political and business elites of each nation, so opposition only tends to come from a) those on the socialist/anti-capitalist end of the left and b) those who somehow managed to confuse the EU with the bogeyman.

Ireland is pretty fucked, however. It guaranteed its bank deposits as soon as the Iceland crisis hit, purely to save themselves by getting money in before they went the same way. They thus screwed over most of the rest of Europe. And it still won’t work.

My girlfriend and I spent Christmas in Ireland and when we went to visit her uncles over there, they were petrified and hoping for government rescue. Whereas six months before they’d been fantastically glibertarian idiots, devoted to the idea that their small business was built up by their own effort and should therefore be left alone.

 
 

Woo Hoo!

As a less-than-proud Irishman, I claim credit for the Delaware-of-Europe meme.

 
 

“Wouldn’t you all be ‘tree-monkeys,’ then? (Which seems redundant, somehow.)”

Actually, many monkeys live on the ground. Also, I seem to recall a breed of monkeys that live in the sea, although my memory is hazy on this point. And don’t forget space monkeys, either.

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

I look forward to Irish cuisine flooding these shores.

Hey, now, don’t knock a tasty fried black pudding.

My neighborhood cleared out about five/six years ago as the Goidelic contingent returned home for greener economic pastures. The hospitality industry and building trades are hurting here, so I don’t anticipate a mass influx of job-seekers any time soon.

 
 

The growing gap between US corporate rates and other developed nations is a massive disincentivization for real human beings to start and grow a business here. And for those already here it encourages the kind of short-term thinking that leads to Bailoutistan and American sclerosis.

Errrrrrrrr, not for nothing but it was Ireland’s government that started the whole run on worldwide banking, by offering to bail out ITS banks, which forced banks in Spain, Portugal, and France to teeter on the brink, as depositors moved their funds to Ireland for protection.

When the rest of Europe said “Awjeez, we have to do the same thing,” New World and developing world investors put THEIR money into Eurobanks, which meant that Citi and Chase and BofA were all justthisclose to failing.

So, Steyn, tell me again how Ireland’s tax rates had diddly squat to do with this shitpile?

 
 

Let’s not forget the role of the euro in all this. Basically, the euro is a mechanism that allowed the profligate Irish to borrow against the savings of penny-pinching Germans. Hilarity ensued — unless you’re German.

David McWilliams, The Pope’s Children, q.v.

 
 

How much can Forbes complain about having to pay taxes before people stop listening to him?

Of course, it helps that Daddy handed him a major publishing company…

 
 

Don’t look down, Mark, just don’t look down.

 
 

“Pssht, 625? Texas could knock that out in a month. Singapore’s for pussies, man.”
Those’d be secret executions, then. The US executed 65 people that year.

 
 

“And don’t forget space monkeys, either.”
Or web monkeys. Who live in, uh, the server room I guess.

 
 

What Invigilator said. Plus, with the superduper top-notch medical care and what-not, canings are merely an inconvenience. Especially to the non-caned. It’s remarkable how effective the yobbos are at censoring themselves, rendering the government’s duties in that regard pretty light as dictatorships go. Plus there’s a fabulous free education to be had by the citizenry. What’s to complain?

 
 

This is absolutely hilarious two years later.

 
 

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