Stephen Kinsella on Economics

The domestic economy’s demand for goods grew by 4.5% last year. The Irish economy is growing. It looks strong. So do the public finances. So far, so boring. But, as Tom Waits once sang, the large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

The Nobel prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr was delighted when he came across a paradox. Bohr argued that only by exploring contradictory and interrelated elements could real progress be made. The Irish economy is one such paradox.

Every year the government produces two forecasts of the economy’s progress. One is in Spring, the other is in Autumn. The Spring statement on the economy’s progress came out last week. It pointed out how weird Ireland’s ...