This graphic shows the richest and poorest countries in Europe measured on GDP per person and buying power. Why is it that I suspect the EU Commission is already drawing up measures to ensure Ireland loses its status as richest EU country (bar Luxemburg)? Just a hunch...
44 comments:
Failing to understand the point...these aren't politically motivated stats. Probably Ireland might lose some economic strength with the crisis but to claim it's related to a political move because of the No seems to be Eurosceptic paranoia Iain.
this site is SHIT, and yes I've read your rules - David Cameron used to be a woman and he smokes children on the weekend.
Blogs like this represent the worst, least innovative, and (check me out) dreadfullest (yes) use of "new" media I can think of. You can stick your ad-ridden propaganda bullshit. Stick to writing for the traditional press and stop acting like the blog-o-world was invented by you.
And change your design, it's horrid.
my understanding was that all of europe is to appear a shade of purple as the powers that be internationalise relative poverty and cream off wealth
destroy the nation state with economics and then provide the solution to our woes by creating a pan european government to operate over our elected chambers
is that not why the eu was formed
discoriggall said...
this site is SHIT
So ignore it (and get a life too while you're at it)
Think it's already happening isn't it. Would be surprising if Milliband actually did something, you know, democratic and principled ... "what's that Nurse? Medication time again". "Nope, I've just had three doses penguin, gibber, gibber, my old man's a lawn mower".
The map actually seems to show that Norway, not Ireland, is the richest country bar Luxembourg. Or have I read it wrong?
The EU will simply re-write the rules on subsidies, but it won't 'punish' Ireland.
The ruling franco-german alliance will ignore Ireland and the legal mumblings of Poland et al and push onward and downward whilst Brown and Milly harp on about standing for the principle of freedom.
And no one in the press seems that bothered by the new MU movement.
anonymous 1:50pm; Norway is not a EU member country (as noted on the map).
The EU has no idea how wealth is created so goodness knows how they intend to 'rein in' Ireland.
Anon 1:50
Norway isn't in the EU.
Norway not in the EU, you Mong
Ireland already is being punished, although a large measure of the "correction" is self-inflicted. Now that Ireland no longer controls its own currency, it cannot help itself through the property-market problems it now faces or attract foreign investment as it did in the 1980s and 1990s.
Perhaps, for the Irish as it probably is with many other peoples, yoking themselves to the EU and its centralizing, unaccountable, and elitist ways is becoming something that can be most charitably described as "Well, it seemed a good idea at the time."
Anonymous 1:50 PM
You are reading the map OK but Iain is talking about what EU Commission might be planning - Norway is not in the EU.
Call me old-fashioned but a map of Europe with German text sends a shiver down my spine.
Interesting that we appear to be doing better than our main competitors - France, Germany and Italy.
It is remarkable how Britain lags behind the best of Europe after ten years of Brown Boom. If you only listened to Herr Brown you would believe that Britain was *considerably richer* than many of our EU friends.
Why are we poorer than the Dutch and the Irish? How can we become as wealthy as the Swiss and the Norwegians?
"my understanding was that all of europe is to appear a shade of purple as the powers that be internationalise relative poverty and cream off wealth
destroy the nation state with economics and then provide the solution to our woes by creating a pan european government to operate over our elected chambers
is that not why the eu was formed"
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY THE EU WAS FORMED!
Norway isn't in the EU.
Have you read discoriggall's blog?
My first guess is that he is twelve years old. My second guess is that he is stuffing more than Vick's Sinex up his nose.
It took me about ten seconds to work out that he is an ill-mannered bounder. (I have had a glass of beer and am suffering from lethargy)
To those who get distracted by the ads on this site, you can turn them off. Yes! Really! Clearly Discoriggall is not bright enough to figure out how to do it despite being a "journalist".
'Failing to understand the point' & 'discoriggal' - Oh Dear Ian - the lefties are really beginning to panic - keep up the good work - rub their faces in it, not before time
anon @ 13:50
Nor*
*not an EU member.
"Where's me bike?" "'Ave you seen it?"
(with nod to Arthur Atkinson aka Paul Whitehouse)
Wrinkled - have another glass buddy - for going to the 'journos' site, you've earned it. What kind of chap goes to a blog only to have a pop at it?? Hopefully we'll all be drinking in the warmth of the SNP glow tonight - hopefully!! OOOhhhh, now that would be funny. I'm wondering if there's a not Kinnock factor going on - even the exit polls may be dodgy as people will be embarrassed not to have voted Labour - rather have Ebola myself but it could be a factor!!
Where's that Nurse got to????
"How can we become as wealthy as the Swiss and the Norwegians?"
It's very simple - you vote Conservative next time.
I would love to know what effect this will have on the Empire of Sean Quinn Europe’s richest man Ireland`s national hero and the owner of Quinn Direct. And the Quinn Building Property owning and all sorts mega group
Quinn Direct which started as his building company’s captive Insurer , are now the largest underwriter of Employers Liability Premium in the UK since the European freedom of provision of services act pass-ported them in from Ireland ( by passing the FSA). The Insurer has gone for an ultra aggressive expansion of their book in the UK and I see this Company ,having been down graded by Moodie, will no longer accept any credit rating at all.
People have always assumed that they had lots of money somewhere lots of debts is equally likely as far as I know .The building industry is on a life support machine ( see Barrats re structuring eg.).The EU funded government contacts it was all built on, are over
The Insurance industry also at the bottom of its own cycle (accelerated by Quinn`s incursion )
Could we be about to see a major problem in the domestic Insurance market ? If they pulled out it would double Liability costs for just about everybody on every site in the country.
( Oh please I need the commissions )
Let's talk about David Cameron's bike being stolen...
First of all, why was DC buying his salad in that nasty TESCO's - when he preaches to us about shopping in our markets and local grocers???!!!
Eh? Who can explain the hypocrisy involved here?
hehe.
Also, DC should think of his bike as being RECYCLED- not stolen.
Hehe.
:)
"How can we become as wealthy as the Swiss and the Norwegians?"
Leaving the EU would be a major start. Iceland, not on the map but also outside the EU, has very high per capita wealth.
That's why Ireland rejected Lisbon. The EU's holding them back. They need to dump the Euro, cut interest rates and enjoy a lower currency.
They can keep taxes low and attract FDI.
Switzerland, Norway, Iceland are the examples to follow - not bankrupt Spain and Italy.
Ireland has seen the light, and does not need to continue in the EU's downward spiral into misery for all.
They should start negotiations to quit as soon as possible. The EU will be sulky to the end. OUT.
Ireland is a tax haven Iain. The GDP is not very evenly spread out. Particularly for creatives, who go tax free ... and also Guido who tries.
Dear Friends on Iain Dale's Diary,
As you may know, I was unfortunate enough to have my bicycle stolen today outside Tesco in Portobello Road. Will the young lady who was seen sniffing the seat, shortly before the incident please get in touch via this blog?
PS GDP is not a measure of wealth
How are Norway and Switzerland faring so well outside of the evil empire when we are consistently told that the world would end for us if we took the right decision and left them all to get on with it?
Norway not being a member of the EU might explain why it is so rich.
Yeah, like one of your other commenters, I find seeing a map of Europe with the captions in German unsettling.
"Twice bitten, three times shy".
I think the reason is that the EU is being created to be self-similar version of the German federal structure; and that goes back to Bismark.
Eire is already cutting its government expenditure. I wonder how long Gordo will be able to avoid doing the same?
Just heard we are to tighten Irish border controls.
be interesting to see a net contribution map to the EU, along with MEP costs including admin and expenses
As an ex-economist I can't help but try to explain why Ireland looks so good on this particular measure.
The figures published by the EU are based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. GDP includes the profits of foreign companies based in each country, so Ireland - having attracted massive amounts of inward investment in recent years - has a relatively high GDP. However, Gross National Product (GNP) would be considerably lower since this excludes profits remitted outside the country in question ... but includes profits of overseas branches of national companies.
In the UK these two effects largely offset each other, and therefore GDP and GNP are very similar. In Ireland however the flows of foreign profits out of the country are far greater than any overseas profits flowing back home, and hence a big difference between GDP and GNP.
None of this is to suggest that any of the figures are "wrong", "misleading" or "fiddled". It's simply a case of understanding the definitions used; how the data are compiled; what they mean and what they don't mean.
Even Funnier that Discoriggall has been moderating his messages; put an encouraging one on his site earlier this evening and he deleted it.
Just another wanker that can "give it" but can't "take it".
Sad Git.
David's bike is now on ebay!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/David-Camerons-Mountain-Bike_W0QQitemZ150274987872QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150274987872&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318
Iain, I am surprised that you have not felt the need to comment on this very serious matter.....
Why are "give it" and "take it" in speech marks? I delete comments that I don't enjoy - regardless of them being nice or not. Try harder Westmorlander.
The anti-EU sniping here makes my skin crawl, I do not understand how people can be so narrow minded and short sighted.
Viva Zapatero!
sorry, what?
the EU is clearly another layer of inefficient government that sets a 'one size fits all' policy onto 27 wildly varying countries in terms of economics, politics, society norms and culture.
in simple terms; it doesn't work.
the main arguments that are put forward to justify the union is that it a) prevents war and b) creates wealth across the continent. well, we are not in a union with morocco, yet we haven't fought a war with them. however, we have fought wars on 'our doorstep' in the Balkans in order to pin back orthodox influence on the EU's eastern flank, whilst at the same time betraying a loyal ally in WWII (the serbs). wealth clearly is not created by an additional level of governmental regulation, taxes and tariffs (the European withholding tax has increased from 15% to 20% (ESD)). as we can't negotiate our own trade deals we are stuck trading with a single bloc rather than with whoever we like.
a european free trade area is fine, but a political entity is nothing other than an attempt to subvert our sovereignty and should be rejected.
calling anti eu comment 'sniping' shows you up to be unable to face facts and complicit in the destruction of your sovereignty. the fucking thing can't even manage to have its accounts signed off by the auditors! if it was a private company, the CEO, CFO and chairman would be in jail via saberns - oxley.
discoriggall said...
"I do not understand"
thicko
The reason we are poorer than the Irish is because back in 1989 (when Ireland was only 2/3rds as well off as us) they cut croporation tax 7 regulation & started growing at an average 7% a year.
This was achieved by competent economics & had nothing to do with EU subsidy (which mainly went to agriculture Ireland's slowest growing sector). The EU may ensure Ireland becomes an associated EFTA member like Norway but they cannot make her poorer thann us.
We could do something similar.
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