IMHO, our government could take a few lessons from IRELAND

[BigBearJohn]

Here's something you probably didn't know: Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg.

Yes, the country that for hundreds of years was best known for emigration, tragic poets, famines, civil wars and leprechauns today has a per capita G.D.P. higher than that of Germany, France and Britain. How Ireland went from the sick man of Europe to the rich man in less than a generation is an amazing story. It tells you a lot about Europe today: all the innovation is happening on the periphery by those countries embracing globalization in their own ways - Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe - while those following the French-German social model are suffering high unemployment and low growth.

Intel opened its first chip factory in Ireland in 1993. James Jarrett, an Intel vice president, said Intel was attracted by Ireland's large pool of young educated men and women, low corporate taxes and other incentives that saved Intel roughly a billion dollars over 10 years. National health care didn't hurt, either. "We have 4,700 employees there now in four factories, and we are even doing some high-end chip designing in Shannon with Irish engineers," he said.

The results have been phenomenal. Today, 9 out of 10 of the world's top pharmaceutical companies have operations here, as do 16 of the top 20 medical device companies and 7 out of the top 10 software designers. Last year, Ireland got more foreign direct investment from America than from China. And overall government tax receipts are way up.

Ireland's advice is very simple: Make high school and college education free; make your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; actively seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labor and management - then hang in there, because there will be bumps in the road - and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe.

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/opinion/29friedman.html?incamp=article_popular_1

[LightningFlash]

1. Sounds like a socialist country.....

The exact place the right would never want to go!!!!! :crazy: :crazy:

Anyhow there are alot of good things about ireland, but what is concerning to me is making school free. If school is free for everyone, it becomes kind of difficult I would think to keep track of logistics. Soon too many schools are filled leads to all sorts of problems. Maybe there is some other solution to that, but this is the one glaring problem jumping off the page for me.

[BigBearJohn]

3. Making schools free sure helped out Ireland.

[Maple]

8. I give up

Democrats...Republicans. No difference.

[Geek_Girl]

2. I read this article this morning

Then I went to monster Uk and found out there were 960 IT Jobs in dublin Ireland this month most of them paid pretty well. If I didn't have family obligation's I'd go in a heart beat.

[H2O Man]

4. Tragic poets?

Americans should all be reading the Irish Echo, by the way. Best darned Irish-American newspaper in the world. Matter of fact, it's the best newspaper in the world. You won't find editors holding back from telling the truth about this administration.

[Cleita]

5. "National health care didn't hurt , either."

Why don't American companies here grasp that concept. They could save billions a year in health insurance and worker's comp.

[applegrove]

6. I think the Irish don't pay reasonable taxes and have attracted

all sorts of business and wealthy people who drop their families there while they work in New York or Europe as traders and the like. Then they fly home for the weekend and family life takes place there.

That house of cards only works to increase investment if you are the only one with such a tax system around. If everyone were to copy the Irish plan..then it would not work the same way.

Ireland is specializing as a place where you can run a business and not pay taxes. It works because it is special - as Europe goes.

[MisterP]

7. modern globalization--and Friedman's neoliberalism--are never helpful

low corporate taxes? markets laid "open"? they tried that under Pinochet and it flopped. "bumps in the road"? Greg Palast addresses this: the "growing pains" are and will be permanent.

[Maple]

9. See # 8

All ideology, all the time.

[CBHagman]

10. I've been hearing about the educated workforce there...

...for years. It's not just that there's a pool of educated young workers; it's that they have an ample supply of workers with the right sort of skills -- i.e., engineering, math, etc.

By the way, when I was in Germany, the cost of a college education was nothing like the U.S. My primary expenses were housing and books. Fees were minimal. However, preparation for college (i.e., attending an academic high school, not a tech school) was pretty grueling, from what I've heard.

And as for Ireland's tax policy in general, here's something I found on the Web:

http://www.omahonydonnelly.ie/moving.htm

[BooScout]

11. Ireland's attracting.....

...educated workers from all over Europe and has been for some time.

Dublin is the number 1 European destination for tourists and has been for a couple of years now.

We were there a couple of years ago. It's a bustling country and they were advertising professional positions left and right.

[BigBearJohn]

12. I am definitely going to take a vacation there and check it out.