The Queen is Slumming Now

I love that Queen Elizabeth's upcoming visit to Ireland will be the first time the British monarch has traveled to Ireland since 1911. It is pretty far after all.

Ireland

Krugman has an excellent take on the Irish economic crisis:

The Irish story began with a genuine economic miracle. But eventually this gave way to a speculative frenzy driven by runaway banks and real estate developers, all in a cozy relationship with leading politicians. The frenzy was financed with huge borrowing on the part of Irish banks, largely from banks in other European nations.

Then the bubble burst, and those banks faced huge losses. You might have expected those who lent money to the banks to share in the losses. After all, they were consenting adults, and if they failed to understand the risks they were taking that was nobody’s fault but their own. But, no, the Irish government stepped in to guarantee the banks’ debt, turning private losses into public obligations.
Before the bank bust, Ireland had little public debt. But with taxpayers suddenly on the hook for gigantic bank losses, even as revenues plunged, the nation’s creditworthiness was put in doubt. So Ireland tried to reassure the markets with a harsh program of spending cuts.

Step back for a minute and think about that. These debts were incurred, not to pay for public programs, but by private wheeler-dealers seeking nothing but their own profit. Yet ordinary Irish citizens are now bearing the burden of those debts.

Or to be more accurate, they’re bearing a burden much larger than the debt — because those spending cuts have caused a severe recession so that in addition to taking on the banks’ debts, the Irish are suffering from plunging incomes and high unemployment.

It's amazing that the Irish people are allowing themselves to get fleeced on behalf of the banks. This isn't like the U.S. and the bailout--the Irish are facing higher taxes, higher unemployment, and a lower standard of living--all to bail out millionaires and billionaires. Krugman goes on:

But Ireland is now in its third year of austerity, and confidence just keeps draining away. And you have to wonder what it will take for serious people to realize that punishing the populace for the bankers’ sins is worse than a crime; it’s a mistake. 

I'd go a bit further than Krugman. What will it take for the people at large to realize that fundamentalist global capitalism doesn't work except for the wealthy? When will people begin to demand accountability from corporations and the political class? When will people begin to demand employment and the restoration of the social safety net? I'm certainly not seeing it yet, neither in the United States, nor Ireland, nor anywhere else. The average everyday person still believes that free market capitalism is their friend. Despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Shorter Douthat: "Sex and Drugs Brought Down the Irish Economy"

What in the living hell does this have to do with the Irish economic crisis?

To the utopians of secularism, the Irish experience should be a reminder that the waning of a powerful religious tradition can breed decadence as well as liberation. (“Ireland found riches a good substitute for its traditional culture,” Christopher Caldwell noted, but now “we may be about to discover what happens when a traditionally poor country returns to poverty without its culture.”) 

To his credit, Douthat actually kind of says that the fundamentalist free-market ideology that has ruled Ireland over the past two decades may have not been entirely good, something his fellow conservatives cannot admit. But if anyone can figure out what birth control and divorce have to do with this, let me know. 

Dublin Notes, Days 2-4

1. One thing I like about Dublin is how your beer marks you--literally. Every beer is served in a glass emblazoned with its own name. Of course, that's easy to do when only 5 beers are served in the whole country. However, if you are stupid enough to order a Coors Light in Ireland, you should have it in a Coors Light glass. It means I don't have to work to feel contempt for you. I know you have terrible taste.

2. I was watching the local news. Always an interesting experience. The woman doing the weather had a look that wouldn't quite fly in the U.S. First, like most of us, she was a little overweight. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm only saying that a woman like that would not be allowed in a prominent position on our anorexia-supporting television networks. More of note, she was wearing a leather dress. Now that was interesting.

3. I spent part of the day at the Kilmainham Jail, where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion were executed, among other Irish independent leaders. It was good, but pretty depressing. I felt I needed a drink after I finished the tour. However, I decided to visit the Ireland Museum of Modern Art first. Those exhibits really made me need a drink. Call me a savage, but jesus those were some stupid exhibits. Of course, between the two institutions was a pub, so my need was satisfied.

4. The exception to the above rant was a very interesting exhibit on how modern art influenced the composer Morton Feldman. That was well-put together and somewhat more exciting than Feldman's actual music.

5. Yes, I rode on the top of a double-decker bus. And yes, I enjoyed it.

6. I've seen way too much anti-Irish propaganda from 19th century America. I know this because every now and then I see someone and think, "Wow, you look exactly like the Irish stereotype images in 19th century newspapers." This probably isn't a good thing.

Random Ireland Notes, Day 1

I'm in Ireland for the next 10 days or so. I am here for a conference. After the conference, I am going to see a bit of Dublin and then somewhere else. A few stray notes:

1. We are all pretty familiar with the fact that American stars do weird commercials overseas. However, I was somewhat unprepared to see a giant billboard for an ice cream company starring Benicio Del Toro as a suave sexy thief who apparently uses his criminal mind to steal creamsicles.

2. Wow, the district in Dublin catering to 21 year old tourists who come to Ireland looking for an "authentic" Irish experience is gross. Even compared to the worst tourist districts I've seen in other places, the Temple Bar district in Dublin is really lame. Anyone who goes there should rethink their priorities. Sadly, you kind of have to walk through it to get from one part of the city to another, but maybe that's a good thing. We can all see it and be thankful that we aren't the stupid kind of tourists. Unless we are. And then we should feel shame and self-loathing.

3. While the atmosphere of the Dublin pub is rightfully legendary, the beer selection is horrible. Perhaps I'm biased because I don't think Guinness is a particularly great beer. But it's standardization, standardization, standardization. Each bar seems to have the following: several taps for Guiness, one for Smithwick's, and then 1 or 2 for Carlsberg, Heineken, Beck's, Coors' Light, and Budweiser.

This is not good. Everyone thinks Guinness is a great beer. And although I am not a huge fan, who am I to argue? However, the Guinness' hegemony is a disaster for Irish beer. Its success must have shut down hundreds of breweries throughout Ireland. Is it good that an entire nation's beer tradition be centered around a single brew? I can't imagine that it is. The crushing of independence and innovation only stagnates culture. The equivalent is every American drinking Budweiser.

Almost equally disturbing is the spread of mediocre lagers like Carlsberg and Heineken. While I have nothing particularly against either of those brews, they are also quite unremarkable. Why can't the Irish brew beers just as good?

On the other hand, given the number of people paying 5 Euros for a bottle of Budweiser, that Carlsberg is looking pretty good....

Also, I haven't seen anyone serving Harp yet. Is it a beer created solely for the American market?

4. I kind of like that the first meal I ate in Ireland was a Malaysian soup. Oh globalization, what can't you solve?

Dancing into 1639

Ireland pretends we are in the 17th century, passes a law outlawing blasphemy.

Tastiest Museum Ever

Cork Butter Museum, Cork, Ireland.

I also note with shock and sadness that this is the first time we´ve used butter as a label here.

Historical Image of the Day

Irish immigrants heading to America, 1846

Smart People Fighting Stupid Inventions

I love this story on the Irish placing a 33 cent tax on each plastic bag they use at the grocery store.

Plastic bags are one of the curses of modern life. An incredibly stupid use of petroleum, these wafer thin bags never decompose, float in the wind, get caught on trees where they remain in remnants forever, and take up huge chunks of landfills. They also contribute in no small way to climate change. All this might be worth it, except that the product has absolutely no value whatsoever. There is no reason that we can't all just use cloth bags. They are pretty cheap too, last a long time, and are environmentally responsible. But we don't use them because we see the bags as free and painless.

Within one year, the Irish cut their use of plastic bags by 94%. Remarkable. Can you imagine what would happen if we tried this in America. First, the tax freaks would be going nuts, despite the fact that cloth bags are really cheap. Second, the president who proposed this would be accused of being another Jimmy Carter--weak, effeminate, and denying America's greatness. Like Carter when he pushed for conservation in the 70s, this president would likely be attacked since part of America's heritage is using as many resources we want at no cost. Plus, said president would be accused of not focusing on real problems, like killing brown people and pushing for anti-flag burning legislation. There has been some movement on this front in the US, but it has faced extreme resistance, even in the very liberal places it has been proposed, like New York and San Francisco.

Call me pessimistic.

In the recent UN Human Development rankings, Ireland was #5 and the United States was only #12. Evidence like this plastic bag tax helps me believe that Ireland in fact is a better place to live than the United States. You wouldn't think it given Ireland's history, but in fact it seems to be a wonderful place to be. I wish we were as smart as the Irish.