David McWilliams – ‘The truth is the union has been an economic calamity for Northern Ireland…’

Three Belfast landmarks in one shot. From left to right: Titanic Belfast, a museum for all things Titanic related; the very large Harland and Wolffe ship building crane Goliath; and immediately below it, the red bricked building where the Titanic was designed by Harland and Wolff prior to its fateful end in 1912 (May, 2019).

The Economist David McWilliams is married to a Presbyterian from Belfast, so his latest article for the Irish Times might get him a frosty reception at his next dinner with the in-laws. In the article, he outlines his view that partition has been a disaster for Northern Ireland. Take, for example, emigration which has always been a good indicator of economic frailty. Between 1841 and 1951, the population of what would become the Republic’s 26 counties fell by 55 per cent …

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@davidmcw games one #Brexit outcome…

“Let’s go.” “We can’t.” “Why not?” “We’re waiting for Godot.” Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot Interesting piece from David McWilliams on an unintended consequence of the Brexit vote. The title – ‘A nation once again? Don’t write it off’ –  neatly encapsulates his argument and commits the obvious sin of deviating from a pro-unionist consensus. The line of reasoning he follows is: The English lead the British out of Europe. The Scottish then go to the polls again, wanting to stay …

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McWilliams on EU economic re-alignment driving a possible United Ireland

David McWilliams has an interesting column in today’s Sunday Business Post which muses on whether a United Ireland may not be that far away. The essential premise of McWilliams argument is that looking through history we have seen rapid changes, some of them very unexpected. Even in our own history, McWilliams points out the seemingly clear run that the Irish Parliamentary Party had in 1915 which would be abruptly destoryed in 1918 by the Sinn Fein sweep. Furthermore, he points …

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“a crash doesn’t destroy wealth, it merely reflects the extent to which wealth has already been destroyed”

David McWilliams’ column yesterday showed the value of someone sticking with the long arc of a story, in this case the financial collapse which he tried to warn people in advance. Let us not forget that every bank in Ireland went bust. It didn’t matter whether the banks were locally or foreign run and owned. They all indulged in reckless lending and they were all bailed out. To date there hasn’t really been a satisfactory answer as to how exactly …

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The coming collapse of the Irish middle class

In the her excellent lecture on “The coming collapse of the American Middle Class”, Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren investigates the stagnation in real median wages in the United States since 1970, and highlights the massive amount of extra-risk assumed by families in moving from one to two income households (The Two Income Trap). It’s probably worth noting at this point that Warren employs a more expansive notion of middle class than many (although not all) in Ireland. Large swathes of …

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Big blogging on the Big Bite!

Interesting discussion with a few bloggers I’ve been wanting to meet for some time at RTE this morning. RTE’s Big Bite programme goes live tomorrow about 2.25pm and features a lively discussion between Caoimhe Burke, Gavin Sheridan, John Ihle, Richard Delevan and Sue, (who is currently worried about a haunting in her house). Oh, and yours truly. It was an interesting variety of bloggers. Fair play to David McWilliams, who seems to be ahead of the curve in recognising the …

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