Peoples News 130

PEOPLES NEWS 130 - CONTENTS

http://www.people.ie/news/PN-130.pdf

Page 1

Lies and damned lies

Page 3

Failed TPP talks vindicate concerns on medicines and investor rights

Page 3

People’s Movement on Facebook

Page 4

Building the EU Core

Page 6

Christine Lagarde, Greece and the American military-industrial complex

Page 6

Meanwhile in Greece

Page 7

More of the same

Page 9

The power of lobbyists in Brussels

Page 11

Ireland’s standard of living below EU average

Page 11

German organisations unite to oppose TTIP and CETA

Page 12

ECB “disappointed”with lack of convergence - a failure of the euro project

Page 13

“Whatever it takes”fails to deliver

Page 14

TTIP would reward American companies without any recriprocal benefit

for Europeans

Page 15

“Neutral”Ireland’s arms industry is making billions

Page 16

Greasing the wheels of German trade with Greece

Page 17

Iceland and Ireland: who’s recovering better?

Page 19

“Helping”David Cameron

Page 20

Goldman Sachs hires Fogh Rasmussen as adviser

Page 20

Ryanair and Dublin’s role undermining labour

Lies and Damned Lies!

Rory Hearne, Lecturer in Political and Economic Geography, National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
The government is misleading the Irish people and the EU about the reality of austerity and the debt crisis in Ireland so as to avoid admitting that they took the wrong approach with austerity, and their failure to get a meaningful debt deal. The truth is that austerity is based on flawed economics and it hasn’t worked in either Ireland, Greece or for the EU, and Ireland’s debt is unsustainable.
Austerity has devastated Irish society. For most people recovery is just a word being spoken by politicians and the media. The Central Bank and ESRI have highlighted that the much-lauded growth figures do not reflect the true health of the Irish domestic economy, because they are artificially inflated by multinational and financial activities that do not take place here.
Austerity has resulted in 1.4 million people, almost 31 per cent of the population, suffering from deprivation—which is up from 14 per cent in 2008; 37 per cent of children suffer deprivation (up from 18 per cent in 2008). The legacy crises are multiple, including mortgage arrears, rent, homelessness, child care, hospitals, and community services.
Unemployment figures are largely reduced, because of emigration and the use of unpaid- jobs schemes. Domestic demand remains static, and working-class communities, small towns and rural areas are devastated.
Austerity has not worked for the low- income and working people of Ireland. At the European level the euro area is mired in stagnant growth of 0.8 per cent, mass unemployment of 11 per cent, and a ratio of debt to GDP that that has risen from 72 per cent in 2009 to 92 per cent today.

The calculation of the economists Reinhart and Rogoff that austerity was required to reduce government debt levels below 90 per cent in order to return to growth was also found to be incorrect. The IMF has also admitted that it underestimated the negative impact of austerity’s higher taxes and spending cuts on economic growth and unemployment.
The government continues to peddle the myth that our national debt is manageable and sustainable. It is assuring the international markets that the Irish people will continue to pay all the debt accumulated from the crisis and bailing out the banks, irrespective of its impact. But why are we immiserating and impoverishing our population, and depressing our economy, in order to pay back this illegitimate debt?

In 2009 Ireland's "general government” debt was €104 billion. This year it stands at a staggering €210 billion. In 2009 the Irish debt-to-GDP ratio, the figure used to assess the sustainability of national governments’ debt levels, was 62 per cent. This year it has risen to 108 per cent. In 2009 we paid €2.5 billion in interest on the national debt. This year we are paying three times that figure: €7.3 billion.

How is an economy that has undergone such a deep recession to be expected to pay double in debt payments what it was paying during an economic boom? That €7.3 billion debt interest is 20 per cent of all taxes taken in by the government. It is equivalent to the entire education budget. But these repayments and the debt are going to get even worse in the coming years. The national debt will be €214 billion in 2018.
So what the government really means when it continues to argue to Europe and the markets that our national debt of €215 billion is manageable is that the Irish people accept that a fifth of all taxes collected will go to debt interest repayments. The interest on this debt will be paid each year through the massive diversion of resources away from the education system, social housing, employment creation supports, disability services, etc. Rural services will remain shut, and mental health services will remain underfunded. The waiting lists of the sick to get hospital treatment will lengthen, and more children will go hungry. The domestic economy will underperform as personal taxes are diverted to debt repayments.
Ireland’s debt-to-GDP figure is also misleading in a way that hides the true size of the debt relative to the economy. Ireland’s GDP figure is inflated by multinational economic activity, some of which is not real activity taking place here in Ireland. The GDP growth figures (which are used to claim that Ireland is in recovery) are also artificially inflated in this way. This means that Ireland’s debt-to-GDP ratio should be even higher and we have even less economic capacity than our GDP figures suggest to pay back this debt.
This is worsened by the fact that corporations pay low levels of tax in Ireland, which leaves a disproportionately higher burden of the debt with the general population. This is a major downside to the way in which multinational activity and taxation is organised in Ireland that is often overlooked.

What this shows is that Ireland’s debt crisis is being ignored and played down to the detriment of the economy and public services.
Yet the Irish government is now a leading opponent of a Greek debt deal, despite the fact that we could save up to €3 billion a year on our debt interest as part of Greece’s European debt conference proposals. But the Irish government and European elite are more concerned that a deal for Greece will boost anti-austerity politics in Ireland, Spain and Portugal. So their strategy is to try to isolate Greece now and beat it into submission before it is joined by like-minded governments. If Greece gets a deal, it will show in very stark terms to the Irish people that the last two governments’ strategy of savage austerity and passively accepting Europe’s debt was wrong and unnecessary.
The other real reason that the elite don’t want to ease austerity is that they have used the debt crisis to impose policies on the bail- out countries that the financial elite, the wealthy and big business have been trying to get in during the last thirty years of neo- liberalism. That is, to reduce the surplus value (wealth or profit) that is produced in society that goes to working people and the poor and increase that going to the rich and capital.
So taxes on corporations and the wealthy are reduced, and new flat stealth taxes are introduced, low and middle-income workers’ wages are reduced, working conditions are made “flexible” (i.e. precarious, such as zero- hour contracts), funding for core public services such as health, welfare and housing is reduced, state assets are privatised to provide more opportunities for wealthy business owners, and the cost of repaying the massive credit expansion of the boom years is loaded onto households.

Austerity involved a massive transfer of wealth from the lower and middle classes to global capital. This has given rise to a rapid rise in inequality within Europe and the US, pointed to by the economist Thomas Picketty. But it is not an accident: it is the purpose for which the European elite are pursuing austerity capitalism.
What the European elite have not realised, however, is that something has changed for ordinary Europeans. The emergence in Greece, Spain and now Ireland of new movements and political parties opposed to this elite has given them hope and confidence to stand up to the juggernaut of austerity. Europe has blocked a deal to alleviate the debt burden and austerity on Greece, but Syriza has indicated it will start to roll back on aspects of austerity.
What is clear is that Merkel’s mantra “There is no alternative to austerity and debt slavery and impoverishment for the PIIGS” is being fundamentally challenged. 

People's News 120: 1/March 2015

Below is link to latest issue of People’s News. 

 

http://www.people.ie/news/PN-120.pdf

 

It is sent fortnightly and contains information and comment on EU developments from an Irish and democratic perspective. 

Check People’s Movement website at

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for further news and views from the People’s Movement 

Contents

Page 1

The mirage of “Social Europe” laid bare again

Page 1

Ukraine, the EU and Russia

Page 3

12 million Germans are classes as “poor” claims a German welfare association

Page 4

Greece baiting seems to have become the favourite sport of the political and media elite

Page 6

Master of the universe. Michael O’Leary has never hidden his plans for world domination

Page 6

TTIP points to the demise of the public health service

Page 8

Government prepared for the collapse of euro zone

Page 8

A lacklustre defence of public services 

Page 9

Legal challenge to plain cigarette packaging

Page 10

Another EU con job

Page 12

“Greece should leave the Euro” - former French President

Page 12

Ireland continues to suffer from CFP

Page 13

TTIP and for-profit colleges

People's News 119: 15 February 2015

Download the PDF file: http://www.people.ie/news/PN-119.pdf

Table of Contents - Peoples News 119.

P1. Greeks seek to control their fate. While the new Greek Government has yet to talk of leaving the European Union or the eurozone an erstwhile high priest of free markets and former head of the US central bank, Alan Greenspan, has predicted that Greece will have to leave the eurozone.

P3. The Dáil votes against an EU debt conference! Last week, a Technical Group Motion calling for a European debt conference was defeated by 72 votes to 42 in the Dáil. 

P4. EU trade secrets proposal - a threat to freedom of speech! The European Parliament has commenced consideration of a European Commission proposal on the protection of company secrets.

P5. Not so loony! That infamous “loony of the left” Tony Benn was forecasting developments such as TTIP as far back as the early 70s.

P5. Are public services on the block at TISA talks? Another leaked paper made public last week on the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) negotiations shows that there is – at the very least - ambiguity surrounding the assurances given by the EU about the protection of public services in trade agreements.

 

P6. French Senators reject ISDS. French Senators have unanimously adopted a draft resolution on the dispute resolution mechanism (ISDS) between the state and foreign investors foreseen by TTIP and CETA.

P7. Scrap TTIP and CETA Protest. A big ‘Thank you’ to all who helped make our ‘Scrap TTIP and CETA’ Protest at the EU Parliament offices in Dublin a success.

P7. Debate: TTIP, What is it and should we be worried?

 

P7. What’s the difference between Iceland and Ireland – its more than one letter anyway! Iceland’s Supreme Court has upheld convictions of market manipulation for four former executives of the failed Kaupthing bank.

P7. Why not have a look at the Peoples Movement Facebook page and become a friend?  https://www.facebook.com/peoplesmovementireland

P7. Phew, that was easy! Professor John Fitzgerald got far too easy a ride when he appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. 

P8. Another important TTIP document has been leaked and it just gets worse! This time, it’s a chapter concerning dispute settlement: ISDS. 

P10. Germany moves towards fracking. After a long debate over the use of fracking technology in Germany, the federal government issued a draft law allowing the controversial gas extraction method under certain conditions and in isolated cases.

P11. Juncker’s ideas for Eurozone integration. At last week’s European Council summit, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presented an ‘analytical note’ with ideas on how to strengthen integration in the Eurozone.

P11. EU – wide tax shelved - for now! Plans to increase the EU's so-called "own-resources" have been postponed.

P12. The Oireachtas is failing to control Ministers on EU issues – a complete lack of accountability!

P13. Neo-liberal Structural Reform Myths. The intellectual case against austerity is easy to make because so much empirical data is stacked up against it.

 

 

 

 

 

People's News 118

Download PDF file - http://www.people.ie/news/PN-118.pdf

Contents

Page 1

EU may take another blow to its legitimacy

Page 1

TEEU warns against corporations being given the power to dictate to Governments

Page 3

Meeting in Galway on TTIP and CETA

Page 3 

Scrap TTIP and CETA demonstration - 4th February

Page 3

Is QE another blow for euro?

Page 4 

Scary stuff

Page 4

Surely not

Page 5

Greece will not be taken for granted

Page 5

Germany's past must be confronted

Page 7

Greek election strengthens Canadian opposition to CETA 

Page 8

A roadmap to corporate plunder

Page 8

Lobbying organisations' culture of secrecy

Page 11

British politician highlights EU/Partition contradiction

Page 12

"Light" and "darkness according to Brussels

Page 13

ECB intensifies power grab

Page 14

New Greek PM at national shrine to resistance

People's News 117

http://www.people.ie/news/PN-117.pdf

Contents PN 117

P1. Austrian Chancellor issues threat! Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann has warned that Austria could file a lawsuit before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over EU’s intention to sign the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

P1. Brussels seeks to extend "economic governance" reach. During the last years of economic crisis, Brussels has moved to expand its power at the expense of the sovereignty of the member states.

P2. No decision on ISDS until the end of TTIP talks. The EU won’t decide whether to include the investor- state-dispute-settlement (ISDS) clause in TTIP until the “final phase of the negotiations” with the US.

 

P3. “All market and no social” – ETUC! Commenting on the European Commission’s statement on its work programme, Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said: “There is not a single proposal to improve worker, consumer or environmental protection.”

 

P3. Asia pushes ahead while Brussels dawdles. The European Commission has been desperately trying to put flesh on the bones of EU President Juncker’s flagship €315 billion investment plan to kick start EU economies.

 

P4. Results of Commissions TTIP on- line consultation published. Over 97 percent of submissions in an on-line consultation on TTIP conducted by the EU Commission, were opposed to the inclusion ISDS.

P5. ECJ - Draft agreement on the accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is not compatible with EU law.

P6. Falling euro - a cause for concern? European manufacturers are happy with the falling value of the single currency, which allows them to export their goods more easily. But the mood is tempered by the threat of deflation

P7. Farmers protest against TTIP. In the run- up to Christmas, farmers and trade unionists were protesting in Brussels against TTIP.

P7. OMT OK! – ECJ Advocate General! The ECJ’s top legal advisor, the Advocate General of the ECJ (EU Court of Justice) has found that the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme is compatible in principle with EU law if certain conditions are met.

P8. Now online - EU negotiating texts in TTIP. A final agreement would have 24 chapters, grouped together in 3 parts.

P8. Canadian tar sands oil won’t be labelled ‘dirty’ – the hidden hand of CETA! Just before Christmas, the EU Parliament passed by just 12 votes controversial fuel quality rules that do not penalise imports of polluting tar sands oil from Canada.

P9. Another step to a banking union! The Single European Mechanism (SRM) will be launched over the next three months, with the aim of rescuing or winding up stricken banks with minimal recourse to taxpayers’ money.

P10. Lithuania joins eurozone. Lithuania has become the 19th member of the eurozone.

P11. Opposition to the euro increases in Southern Europe - anti-euro parties hold around half of the vote in Italy.

P11. The situation in Greece. With Greek elections on 25 January which see the possibility of Syriza party form the next Greek government, the debt debate rather than Greek exit from the eurozone has returned to the centre of European politics.

P13. The results of the Commission’s on-line consultation on ISDS – Infographics

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