𝗢𝗳𝗳-𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 ☘️

CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Since the so called opening up of the Irish economy and the elimination of most COVID restrictions, there has been a certain air of jubilation among our people. A sense of normality has returned, the streets are full, we are back in our offices and the alcohol is flowing. Yet this return to normalcy is a carefully calculated illusion propagated by the ruling class. It is the proverbial calm before the storm. We are staring down a crisis that will dwarf COVID in both its scale and social implication. What we are facing is an inflationary disaster and perhaps the deliberate mass destruction of Ireland’s economy.

Readers may think it bold to suggest that anything could top COVID in terms of social destruction but the crisis is just beginning. First let us look at what both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Irish Government are publishing. Since December, there has been pressure on the ECB to raise interest rates and to cool down a European economy spiraling out of control due to inflation. Irish inflation itself rose to 5.3%, but what does this mean? A simple definition of inflation is ‘the general increase in prices and the fall in the purchasing power of money’. However, inflation is very difficult to measure rigorously. Both the ECB and the Irish ruling class are masters of playing economic tricks. 5.3% sounds like a small number to the average person, something manageable and a fine number to put in a headline or start of an article, but one can look closer at the data. 5.3% is a mathematical average, deliberately employed to obscure the truth. Consider some other numbers which may not make headlines: according to the Eurostat, Eurozone energy prices rose 28.6% in January. Our own Central Statistics Office reports that petrol went up by 32%, electricity 22% and home heating oil climbed by 52%. This doesn’t even mention the massive inflation that is taking place in our housing market. Put in these terms it is clear we are in a horrible situation. At least during the previous winter lockdown, we could heat our homes, how many will freeze to death for the sake of 5.3% inflation?

The deception doesn’t stop here. While our government play statistical games in order to hide the truth of inflation, they are even more disingenuous in their explanation of this crisis. They speak of ‘higher energy costs’, ‘supply chain issues’ and that inflation is the natural outcome of an economy reopening. There is no mention of the credit creation and expansion, known more colloquially as printing money. Irish policy makers deliberately ignore the relationship between money creation and inflation. Our housing crisis is a multifaceted problem but inflation is at its centre. The Irish central bank and ECB essentially create money from low interest loans to be put into the housing market, leading to inflation. Almost all other issues related to housing stem from this. The houses are unaffordable to the average person because the wages aren’t inflating at the same rate as the housing market. Mass migration needs to be normalised to keep the prices up, as falling Irish birth rates would necessitate a massive drop in the price of housing, ruining the investments of international finance. Finally, housing supply is dwindling because materials are becoming overpriced due to money creation and the increased competition that engenders. The ordinary Irish entrepreneur is being cut out of the housing market in favour of capitalist parasites.

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