Posts Tagged ‘Irish Economy’

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Budget 2010 – The Rewind

December 10, 2009
Brian Linehan - Budget 2010

Budget 2010 - Brian Linehan

All as expected really, with the pre-press, various leaks etc all preparing everyone for what pretty much happened.

Happy? – I guess being selfish about it we all examine how it affects us personally and on this occasion there were no direct hits to the ship! If we drink more than we use diesel then we are making money! That was a strange one that seemed to catch everyone by surprise.

Whichever way you look at it a lot of money will be taken from circulation, which will effect everyone both as private individuals and those in business. This has affected pretty much all of us this year already – I wonder in real terms how much less money was in circulation this year than before? It must be a huge figure.

The real budget headline for me was one of ‘Rewind’, the Government trying to take back what it probably gave away too easily in better times. It always amazes me how easy it is to get used to extra money, you seem to automatically adjust your lifestyle and mostly to the extent that you have a ‘new level’ of necessities.

Try taking it back after! Different story altogether.

So whether we think the public service or those on welfare are overpaid or not, this is real people we are talking about who are all waking up this morning contemplating significant financial adjustments. The unions will no doubt huff and puff and end up blowing nothing down, just raise a level of anger and frustration with a lot of people. At the end of the day it will be real people who will be really affected, some worse than others.

Today spare a thought for those who do not have a cushion of excess income and can comfortably take an income hit and as a result will be under serious pressure. Try to forget about all the public v private sector stuff, it does none of us any good, these are all our neighbours.

Rewinding is much tougher than fast forwarding.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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It will get better when we stop saying it will get worse.

November 30, 2009

Brian Cowen - Fianna Fail

Getting Better

It will get worse before it gets better!

What was he thinking when he said this?

I am talking about Brian Cowen of course, the leader of our government, the leader of our country.   I consider myself to be one of the very lucky ones in the last week with the floods. Except for a leaky roof in our office and a lack of running water, no floods and pretty much business as usual.

It is difficult to empathise with people who have had their houses flooded and their livelihoods effectively ended or at least seriously threatened due to the floods. What is it like to be exhausted after days of battling with flood water, struggling with no water to drink or wash, trying to clean up and rescue what you can from the debris? I can only imagine.

In that position I imagine I want to hear things like: “Don’t worry, you will be looked after”, “We will have it all sorted really soon”, not “It will get worse before it gets better” – that must make your hole seem ever deeper. Hope or despair?

Come on Brian, have some cop on will you? Bring people hope not despair. Besides managing how about leading for a change?

You made the same comments after the last budget – why do you think most of the country is half petrified about the economy and their livelihoods. Confidence and positivity will bring optimism, will loosen the purse strings and assist recovery not “It will get worse before it gets better”

It will only get better when we stop talking about it getting worse..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Dublin & Cork

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Spend Ireland – Saving The Irish Economy

May 24, 2009

Spend Ireland - Saving The Irish Economy

Spend Ireland - Saving The Irish Economy

Your Country Needs You
Spend Ireland – Saving the Irish Economy

Are we all totally helpless faced with the current recession or is it just possible that each of us could make a difference and pull us out of the hole that we find ourselves in?

I believe that we can all take personal responsibility in both our personal and professional lives and really make a difference to our economy.

The simple principle that drives the whole economic wheel is ‘Spend Ireland’, which is encouraging money to be spent in Ireland and on Irish products and services. We need to fuel the economic spend wheel by putting our euros back into it and ultimately it will come back to us somewhere along the line. It is time to be very patriotic and spend our euros where it will have a direct Irish benefit.

The recent budget is an excellent example of how lack of spending in Ireland can affect all of us – the tax take is down, unemployment is up so we get increased taxes: Would you prefer to spend and enjoy your money rather than it being taken from you at source by the taxman?

How can I play my part in my personal life to contribute to the Irish economic recovery?

• Firstly if you have disposable income don’t be afraid to spend it – there is great value to be had and you can contribute to our economic recovery. Only spend what you can afford and by the way enjoy spending it!
• To oil the Irish spend wheel try to spend your income in Ireland and on Irish products – this can’t be done in every instance but as much as possible make those little choices to ‘Spend Ireland’ and they will all add up.
• These small personal choices can make a huge difference when we all make them:
o Buying Irish products when shopping, everything from fresh food and other product choices – avoid the imported option if possible, it will do nothing for the Irish economy
o Buying that CD in the music store instead of online – the music store could do with that margin
o Eat out instead of buying that ready made meal in the super market – the early bird specials offered by restaurants are great value and they could do with your business. If you but the ready made meal make sure it is Irish!
o Buying your holiday clothes before you leave instead of when you get there
• The big personal choices can make an even bigger difference when we make them:
o If you are in a position to buy a new car and would normally change around this time then buy your new car – your motor dealer could do with the business
o If you have been planning that extension or that redecorating job then go ahead and do it – you will get great value and the builders could do with the work right now
o Holiday in Ireland if you can or choose Ireland for those weekend breaks instead of breaks abroad. Like most of us there are probably loads of special places in Ireland that we have never visited. There is fabulous value to be had as well as terrific quality. The hotels, restaurants, bars and tourist attractions could all do with Irish euros at the moment.
• If the Irish option is more expensive don’t be afraid to ask for a discount and explain that you are trying to spend on the Irish option

I was chatting through all of this recently with friends and they were quite angry with me explaining that the Irish have been ripped off for years and why shouldn’t we shop where it is cheapest?

Of course there is an onus on the Irish service and goods provider to offer good value and this ‘idea’ will only work where this actually happens. We should at least give the Irish supplier the chance to offer the value – the economy needs us to ‘Spend Ireland’.

The much bigger part of the whole Irish spend wheel is the effect of our personal choices in our professional lives, as employees, managers, developers, landlords, business owners, bankers and yes even politicians.

For the business person – buy Irish products and services wherever possible and really work hard at trying to make the Irish option work – if you need to grind out a viable option with your Irish supplier then try to make it happen. Keep as many employees working as possible. If you have the financial strength and performance to see out this downturn sacrifice ‘super’ profits for ‘average’ profits and maintaining employment. You will need your best and experienced staff in better days. Be open and honest with staff and avoid taking advantage of the current circumstances.

For the employees – times are tough so appreciate what it is like at the moment for your employer. Roll up the sleeves, deliver excellent service and go the extra mile whenever possible – this is now an expectation. Be prepared to be flexible if necessary – be fair as long as you are being treated fairly.

For the developer – the previous business model is broken, the same buyers are not there due to banking rules. Look at your sales model and be creative, with some flexibility and other options such as Rent2Buy you will find new buyers and the wheel can start turning again.

For the landlord – your tenants are bleeding and you have many empty properties. Work with your tenants in a partnership way – adopt a new way of working that is fair for both of you and not the usual confrontational model. Full units are better than empty units.

For the banker – you need to start taking reasonable risks again so that the wheel can keep turning.

For our politicians – for God’s sake show real leadership and lead us positively from this awful mess. While you have to do the accounting job you also need to take positive initiatives that encourage business in a real way and encourage the Irish to start taking risks and spending again.

So, there it is. A possible solution to the mess we find ourselves in. Let’s show our colours and play our small part in fuelling an Irish recovery and let us not forget the painful lessons we are learning now in a hurry.

Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion Communications, providing Marketing Consultancy, PR and Graphic Design services.
For a consultation contact greg@fuzion.ie

Web: http://www.fuzion.ie Phone :(021) 4271234

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The Fear Factor

May 23, 2009

Greg Canty, Fuzion Communications

Greg Canty, Fuzion Communications

It started off with gentle messages about ‘tightening our belts’ and gradually built into a frenzy of bad news mania. The media were willing partners, picking up on every negative story and then a new breed of ‘doomsday experts’ appeared who started telling us that not only were things really bad but that they would be bad for even longer than initially expected. The experts became even better experts, making even worse predictions and in the process became the darlings of the media as well as the after dinner speech and conference circuit – and doing quite nicely in the process! At least there was one growth industry in the recession!!!

The overall campaign was a resounding success with huge momentum as the country was gripped by absolute terror by the start of this year; the fear in everyone was tangible. The natural business lull in January was interpreted by many as the new norm and companies started laying people off (even those who were actually doing fine), cutting back on wages with 10% decreases being quite a standard number, and cutting out on many of their service providers.

Some of it made good business sense and we would be fooling ourselves to ignore reality and acknowledge that some serious market correction was required, but we must question the situation – “Is the market performing worse than it needs to be due to the ‘Fear Factor’?” “Are people largely unaffected by the recession behaving cautiously and not spending due to fear, or the new trend to start being thrifty?” Two years ago you were the ‘odd one out’ if you didn’t have a holiday home and some investment property, now you are the ‘odd one out’ if you are not shopping in Lidl or Aldi.

Is it any surprise that the government tax take was below expectation at the start of the year?

The country is now gripped by fear and even those with money are holding back. When quite a sensible friend of mine, who prudently buys a new car every 6 years, confessed that he felt a little embarrassed in his ’09 car, that people might think he was being too opulent in these times, I knew things had gone too far!  Especially when the car he purchased was a Skoda – not that I have anything against the brand, but it hardly screams extravagance!

We are now free falling into a self fulfilling prophecy and things have become as bad as we feared.

The terrible financial outcome from this lack of spending due to the “Fear Factor” is that our government have not allowed for a recovery period and have decided to take the tax off people directly. Instead of being taxed when we spend (and enjoy) our money it is being whipped off us at source – brilliant piece of logic and leadership!!!

The recent emergency budget was totally negative – it does nothing to stimulate the economy, but will take money directly out of our pockets, including paying double for our dreadful Health Service (don’t get me started here!!!) with absolutely no signs of tackling the level of public spending. There is a small crumb thrown at enterprise – a new €100m fund to help business, based on passed experience, the agency set up to oversee this will probably take half of the budget to cover its operating costs!!

All of this was compounded by Brian Cowen’s final words on the budget ‘Things will get even worse in the next few years’ or words to that effect. Even his body language communicated negativity.  Why would he make such a negative comment at the end of such a harsh budget?  The most worrying aspect is that he said this without understanding the damage this negativity would cause.

This was the icing on the cake for the ‘Fear Factor’ campaign, overall a resounding success!

But who should step up to the podium and in front of the flashing lights to receive the award?

My vote goes to Brian Cowen, the leader of the country who has to accept a large portion of the responsibility for the success of the “Fear Factor” Campaign.

Neither Brian nor his colleagues have showed strong and cohesive leadership since the reshuffle last year.  We need our leaders to lead at this critical state we are in.  We need leaders to do more than fight fires.   Our government needs to start leading a positive campaign and really quickly as this is the only way to drag the country out of the current mess.

Real recovery will only come with hope and optimism, when we believe there is some light at the end of this dark tunnel, not another even darker tunnel.

Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion Communications, providing Marketing Consultancy, PR and Graphic Design services.For a consultation contact greg@fuzion.ie

Web: www.fuzion.ie Phone :(021) 4271234

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