Freedom or enslavement, that’s the subtext to our votes on June 5th which is, in truth, a proxy for the inevitable general election that will follow. We all know it. But none of the politicians want to tell you the real truth about what we face over the next two years. Labour and Sinn Fein would rather play at slogans, kicking the Government without precisely spelling out how either party would deal with the theme of this election- our economic independence. The hard math is that we cannot go forward into next year paying €20 billion in public pay and €21 billion in social welfare, not without bankrupting the country. Even Fine Gael, closer to telling the truth than most others can be accused of blowing hot air about limiting cuts to those on a hundred grand a year. Richard Bruton knows the maths but Enda Kenny it seems would rather dilute it. No politician has called it because they fear to do so. Instead they, variously engage in: 

• political theatrics,
• dishonesty and
• recklessness

The sitting parties, Fianna Fail and the Greens are equally afraid to tell you the truth and have led from behind once again, long fingering this acid test of our independence to reports from An Bord Snip and the Tax Reform Commission. Meanwhile, even as we speak, we’re spending more this year on public pay despite the freeze because of increments and other practices that are a carryover from a world that has died, a world that pays more for hanging around rather than for merit. 

Unless the truth is grasped Ireland will become a dependent economic basket case next year or the year after and you can whistle good bye to our international standing and any talk of a bright future. We’ll be lumped with Iceland, Kazakhstan, The Ukraine and Pakistan as dysfunctional economies getting an IMF bailout and test case studies in text books and economic courses on how to tear a wealthy EU country asunder. Putting politicians in the dock then will be futile. 

Instead the airwaves are full of slogans, misinformation and misdirection especially the stupidity of creating jobs. You don’t create jobs. Hard as it may be for sloganeers to swallow you first create wealth and profit, then jobs follow. You can protect jobs with short working weeks but you can more create sustainable jobs than you can turn lead into gold. 

We either defend our most vulnerable citizens or we protect our most protected by continuing to pay at least 20% above public sector pay levels in competing economies. In this proxy for a general election be careful for whom you vote and who you believe. We must choose:

• between taking the hard road now or living a while longer in denial
• between liars or leaders
• between freedom or enslavement.

There is no other choice and fanciful notions that we can layer ever more tax on to the economy or go after “the rich” has no more substance than Comical Ali’s deluded broadcasts from Baghdad. 

Tip: Buy your winter home heating fill, over the summer. Oil and Gas prices are on the march again and likely to be much during the cold months.