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THERE WAS A buzz around Croke Park yesterday that you don’t usually associate with an hour-long talk about one hundred year trends in the distribution of capital and income.
But the headline speaker was no ordinary academic bore. He’s the latest to be granted the dubious title of ‘rock-star’ economist.
Usually, this means that a smattering of people will turn up to your talks. This, however, was different. There was anticipation in the air. The man from Paris would tell us all where we’d gone wrong.
For context, a recent lecture by no greater personage than Nobel prize winning economist, not to mention New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman in UCD drew about 50 people.
But even in such exalted company, Thomas Piketty is of a different class. 650 people turned up to Croke Park to see the Professor from the Paris School of Economics speak about inequality.
What’s more, they paid for the privilege.
Such was the level of hype that an insider quietly confided in TheJournal.ie that whatever line organiser TASC was trying to push would invariably be blown out of the water by the dapper Piketty.
The great and the good
It was certainly the place to be seen for the great and the good of the Irish left (and leftish). Union top brass such as David Begg and Jack O’Connor were doing the rounds, backed up by SIPTU communications head Frank Connolly.
Politicians also were on the beat. Joan Burton had a front row seat, with Senator Fiach Mac Conghail and Europe’s nearly man Eamon Ryan also among the crowd.
Peter Matthews was also in attendance, and, when he got his turn to address the room, wasn’t cowed by TASC chair Paul Sweeney’s half-jocular threat to cut his microphone off if he went on for too long.
The Patrick and Thomas show
Piketty is a compelling speaker, as is the man tasked with responding to him, Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan (who admitted to being a fan of the book, disappointing those who expected a scurrilous attack from this organ of the orthodoxy).
Piketty and Honohan seemed to get on like a house on fire, in fact.
When Patrick put up his slides on the impact of budgetary policy on different income bands, Thomas twisted fully 180 degrees in his chair and nodded enthusiastically along as the Governor talked us through it.
Nonetheless, there is a limit to how long people can do heavy intellectual lifting on a sunny Friday afternoon.
The collective mind seemed to wander when Piketty got into the minutiae of his work.
However, we could be wrong. Far be it from TheJournal.ie to suggest the audience was anything but rapt.
Perhaps the smattering of nodding heads were doing so in agreement, and maybe those closed lids were done so in deep contemplation rather than slumber.
Plus, as we said, it was very warm indeed.
Revolution in the air?
The hardcore economics fans would definitely have been satisfied by Piketty’s talk, but it was only once the question and answer session got started that the rhetorical temperature really began to rise.
Despite the Professor’s stated desire for “an informed and quiet discussion about taxation”, one questioner from the audience was determined to ask whether it was not, in fact, time for “mass revolt by the people”.
Another implored Piketty to come and lead us in our struggle. Ursula Barry of the school of social justice in UCD made a well-received call for the proceeds of any wealth tax to be ringfenced for domestic use, rather than in the service of debt.
The crowd clapped enthusiastically, chided the Governor, and generally had a good time. Piketty, who was in top lecturer form and formed a good double act with the ebullient Honohan, seemed to enjoy himself.
At the end of the day, one gets the sense that it was the economics fans that went home happier than the revolutionaries. A cheerful “let’s do it” from the main man at the end went down well, but it was hardly Hasta la victoria siempre.
Even rock-star economists are still economists first, and entertainers second. This one, it seems, is no revolutionary, but he makes an impressive fist of the other brief.
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More like Experts are right when they agree with us, and they’re wrong when they disagree :(
This idiot is rarely right but his arrogance knows no bounds questioning the authority of international experts in a field he hasn’t a clue about. The man is a complete buffoon, and a dangerous one at that. The sooner this government is overthrown or FG stage an internal coup to get rid of this clown the better for us all.
Tom
Idiot
Buffoon
Dangerous
Overthrow
Coup
Clown
The selected word are culled from a couple of sentences you have just contributed on a Dail reply to a question by the Taoiseach.
Is it necessary to remind whoever you are that the cowardly anonymity that you avail of when using the language of an out of date left wing terrorist is something that your preferred form of Government would not allow.
It obviously is necessary to remind you that Mr Kenny was the democratic choice of the Irish electorate to become Taoiseach of this Nation and neither the person nor the position should be the subject of such a boorish and libellous assault.
Crawl back into your Social Welfare funded garret.
^^^^ Now there’s hyperbole. Why do you assume he’s on social welfare? Such a narrow-minded, bigoted view of things. You’re obviously using a pseudonym as well, “Richie Rodgers”, which makes you a total hypocrite. I’d agree with Tom in the sense that the man is a moron without a script in front of him. This isn’t the first time he’s essentially declared himself intellectually superior to people in an arrogant and condescending manner. Remember how he addressed Micheal Martin when he challenged him to a debate prior to the referendum? “I wouldn’t want to embarrass you”. I’m no Fianne Failer and certainly no fan of that hypocrite Martin but I know that in any debate scenario he’d mop the floor with Enda Kenny. Frankly, the man seems like a complete idiot that managed to wing his way to the top of Fine Gael and became Taoiseach because of a slew of broken pre-election promises and a protest vote by Irish people against FF.
Pay no attention to rodgers, it’s nothing but a sad troll with no home life and all it does is troll subjects that might give people a chance to say what they feel about kenny & .co
This fool insults to throw a subject into disarray.
Just ignore it.
rodgers the troll accusing someone of “cowardly anominity”… coming from the biggest coward on the journal , that’s rich.
At a time of financial emergency, the ability to scrutinise what a government blatantly not acting in the best interests of the majority of its citizens are up to.
This is another attack on our democracy….and from the weasels who promised us transparency pre-election.
werejammin
Could you be claiming that the FG party which grew out of a failed fascist movement are involved in an attack on democracy?
Enda idiots are often wrong as well and you and your advisor’s are no experts.
Why are they called “experts” then?!
Because they’re likely to get it right.
Ah that’s a great definition of an expert.
If an expert says it can’t be done, get another expert.
David Ben-Gurion
I was told once that an expert was someone who came from far away and did powerpoint presentations an showed slides.
But I do like this one.
“If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.”
Peter Ustinov
If it costs on average 600 euros to retrieve information then the filing system is truley messed up or incompentenceis a prerequiset to be employed by this government
Right wing Governments…oops labour are meant to be a socialist Party
I would cost a small fortune to look up stuff on Enda kenny
They are determined to make all news on this be about €15, as though that’s what the problem is. They keep mentioning it as though that’s what it’s all about. €15 IS NOT the problem.
Also, the cost of retrieval IS NOT €600. This was a figure Bertie pulled out of his …, um, mentioned back in 2008, which was later confirmed to be wrong by the Dept of Finance.
Even if it did cost this for civil servants to fulfill an FOI request, it’s not like they were not going to be paid if there was no request. The clue is in the name… they are ‘civil servants’, they provide a civic service. They are paid to do so. Fulfilling FOI requests is such a service. We pay them for this through our taxes.
Exactly, another example of double taxation and there they are pretending that the issue is the amount!
I don’t know why the Irish people are putting up with this.
Article 6 of the Irish constitution clearly states as follows.
(All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good.)
In other words WE THE PEOPLE TELL THEM OUR SERVANTS what we want as national policy,is this not national policy and is this not one of the most important requirements for the common good of the people.
Wake up everyone and start taking back our country.
Reply
Hahahaaaa my five point mass emigration plan worked. No one left to care. Don’t bother replying.
But Enda has a mandate.
more likely a date with a man!
If I had the money I would demand an FOI answer as to just how many members of this government are members of Common Purpose and how many of the top civil servants have been on their brainwashing courses. Or is that 2 FOI’s.
That will be €30 please and your questions are deemed frivolous :-)
For anyone who believes that Ireland is a democratic state the proposed FOI legislation is undemocratic in it’s intent and a significant concern.Hard to justify and harder to stomach.
Jim: How am I going to explain the missing documents to the Mail?
Sir Humphrey: Well this is what we normally do in, circumstances like these. [hands over a file]
Jim: [reading] This file contains the complete set of papers, except for a number of secret documents, a few others which are part of still active files, a few others lost in the flood of 1967. [to Humphrey] Was 1967 a particularly bad winter?
Sir Humphrey: No a marvellous winter, we lost no end of embarrassing files.
Jim: [reading] Some records which went astray in the move to London, and others when the War Office was incorporated in the Ministry of Defence, and the normal withdrawal of papers whose publication could give grounds for an action for liable or breach of confidence, or cause embarrassment to friendly governments. [to Humphrey] Well that’s pretty comprehensive. How many does that normally leave for them to look at? [Humphrey says nothing] How many does that actually leave? About a hundred? Fifty? Ten? Five? Four? Three? Two? One? Zero?
Sir Humphrey: Yes Minister.
“Experts aren’t always right”
So that’s why the people of Mayo keep electing you Enda.
Whats up with traffic today. Mental!
Foi’s in the road.
The “Experts” seem to be right when it suits the Govt.
This is getting worse and worse.
This Govt is a total disgrace and terrible for the Irish People.
Well said Enda inspirational leadership yet again
Take your tongue outta there! Ain’t no brown nosing in my department…..now make me tae, quick snap.
Kennocchio
“freedom costs a buck o five”
Seems fair after all someone has to be paid to do this non essential work
have your say