THE DAILY BLADE: The Pluck Of The Irish
At a time when Congress is cobbling together a healthcare “reform” bill that – as George Will puts it – enables Democrats to “worsen the dependency culture and the entitlement mentality that grows with it” by providing families with annual incomes as high as $96K government-subsidized health insurance by 2016, Ireland is taking a shillelagh to government entitlements, reports The Washington Post:
Like other heavily indebted nations around the world, Ireland is borrowing vast sums from foreign investors to plug its budget deficit. Fearing that the country will buckle under the weight of so much debt, the Irish have an answer: Put the government on a diet.
More than $4 billion in cuts coming into effect after New Year's Day will slash salaries for 400,000 government workers while making painful reductions in benefits for such groups as widows and single mothers to the blind and disabled children. A tax targeting rich Irish nationals living overseas - dubbed the "Bono Tax" in the Irish press - will help restock empty coffers at home. Even Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who earns about as much as President Obama, is taking a 20 percent pay cut. …
The Irish solution illustrates the tough choices ahead for countries in debt, particularly smaller, troubled nations such as Greece where analysts fear the eruption of a payments crisis if difficult steps aren't taken to control government spending. But in the longer term, analysts warn, even larger, wealthier countries now borrowing record amounts - most notably the United States - may impose difficult cuts to bring deficits back down to already high pre-crisis levels.
Although ramped-up spending is credited with helping spark the global recovery, failure to draw down that spending - starting as early as late 2010 in some countries, analysts say - risks triggering higher interest rates and the tipping of economies back into recession. The timing of cuts is among the most contentious issues dividing Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill; fiscal conservatives support swift reductions, and proponents of spending argue that moving too quickly could derail the economic recovery.
Eventually, however, Americans will probably feel the sting of cuts, even if they are phased in more gradually than the pull-the-Band-Aid-off-fast method being rolled out in Ireland. …
The Irish government is trying to avoid a return of the bad old days of the 1980s, when crushing debt caused economic growth to flatline, interest rates to soar and pushed the unemployment rate to just under 18 percent.
Red Is The New Blue (Dog)
Republicans got an early Christmas present when - on the heels of a string of House Dems announcing their retirement from politics – Rep. Parker Griffith (D R-AL) has jumped ship was shoved overboard by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s marginalizing those, like him, with dissenting views on major legislation. Noting that “
As Democrats reach for victory on big legislation along party lines, that is exposing their flank in moderate and conservative districts.
Freshman Rep. Bobby Bright (D) of
Though Griffith - who wanted to be referred to as a "Blue Dog" and not a Dem - voted with Dems 84.5 percent of the time, he voted with the opposition on the budget, the stimulus, cap-and-trade and heath-care reform.
Rep. John Kline (R-MN) told reporters at a breakfast briefing in
Editorial Note: Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer. The Stiletto Blog will resume publishing on Monday, December 28th. The Stiletto is feeling somewhat puckish these days, so here is a Christmas present that you’ll want to “regift” to every one you know.
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