People and Technology » US

Ireland’s chance to vote Obama or McCain

Paul Browne — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:50:38 +0000

What if Ireland really did get a chance to vote Obama or McCain in the forthcoming US Presidential election? While this Irish Times article suggests that we’re more Memphis than Massachusetts (think about that – Dana as an Irish version of Sarah Palin), now we’re going to find out what would really happen if we got to vote.

No, I’ve not found some ‘back door’ to allow us to take part, but the Economist is running an online poll to find out what would happen if the US President was choosen by worldwide vote.

Hmm … looks like Obama is leading 8,375 to 15. Those 15 come from Georgia (wondered what happened there recently) and Macedonia (next door to Kosovo with large scale Nato intervention).

Life’s unfair with McCain getting tarred with the legacy of 8 years of Bush. Especially after what happened him in the 2000 election (South Carolina Primary) where Bush hit him with some very low attack ads alleging that McCains wife had an affair (in reality, the couple have a daughter adopted from overseas).

Warning: This blog has a 100% failure rate when it comes to forecasting politics.

Free Money

Paul Browne — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:32:10 +0000

Imagine writing an ‘I owe you’ note that people would accept them for whatever you wanted – in pubs , as payment for your car , or even as a downpayment on a property in Dublin 4. In your dreams , imagine that people trusted you enough that they would then use your IOU’s in shops as payment. This is even better, as people now want more of your IOU’s, so you can write even more of them and get even more free stuff.

This is fantastic – you’ve got a massive free loan. Best of all many of these IOUs will get lost behind the sofa or eaten by the cat so you’ll never have to pay them back. Free money. The situation is not so absurd as it seems : The 50 Euro note in your pocket is an IOU from the Irish (and other European) governments. Technically we can reclaim payment, but what would be paid in?

What has sparked this ‘free money’ post is the news from the Financial times is that the Euro has edged out the US Dollar as the international IOU of choice. Given that the Irish Government is allowed to issue a fixed percentage of the Euro in circulation, the Irish Government now has even more money in it’s coffers ahead of the next election.

Next time you get worried about offshoring …

Paul Browne — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:38:30 +0000

… have a read of this instead. Ireland is probably unique in having , within the last 10 years , benefited hugely from offshoring (why do you think all the US Companies are here?), then benefited again from being about to offshore work itself.

Thanks to Bill for the link.