Still drowning in cash, the new Finance Minister is warned by IFAC, yet again, not to spend it.

Are the fiscal giveaways of past budgets really costing each household €1000 a year?

Amidst all the cries of 'they are windfall taxes' it's forgotten that capital investment is - or should be - very different to current spending. We used to argue about borrowing for investment purposes - economists have always pointed that that borrowing for investment is perfectly ok, provided the return on that investment is higher than the cost.

Now, some seem to be arguing that spending money that we already have, windfall or otherwise, still shouldn't be spent, even on high return projects. There's crying wolf and then just being daft.

GDP data is all over the place and has defeated us. Exchequer returns and other data point to an economy still growing although not one that is overheating. Tax revenues are booming and unemployment is down again.

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Rather than put all the spare cash in a 'future proof' fund, should the Finance Minister simply recognise the future is here, right now?

Deviance has been normalised.

Bicycle sheds with golden roofs: a parable about quality versus quantity of government spending

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J D Vance has shot to prominence following his selection by Donald Trump to be, potentially, the next Vice President of the US.

In this podcast special, we focus on Vance's 2016 best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, to try and explain and understand the man who clearly wants, one day, to be the leader of the free world.

We are joined by Professor Shane O'Mara of Trinity College Dublin to discuss all things JDV. And there really is a lot to discuss! Shane is also a best-selling author (of much better books than JDV's memoir) and writes his own Substack called BrainPizza. Do check out any of his works, especially his most recent book, 'Talking Heads: The New Science of How Conversation Shapes Our Worlds'.

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The upcoming budget is thought likely to include changes - increases - to tax breaks on pensions and a rise in inheritance tax thresholds. We both agree that helping millionaire pensioners with even more tax breaks is nuts. But we disagree sharply about the wisdom of inheritance taxes. These are incredibly emotive topics. As our discussion shows!

The Other Hand always welcomes feedback - good, bad or indifferent. We share a particularly interesting perspective from one listener.

Ireland's population continues to soar. But people are moving in and out.

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Ireland has just set a new record for the number of people in employment. Back in the day, you either worked on the farm, civil service, domestic service or emigrated (only slightly simplified). If you had accurately forecast the relentless fall in agriculture-related jobs over the past decades you would have also forecast an overall economic disaster - one that did not happen. There were plenty of bad times of course but you would not have expected rapidly growing population and job numbers in 2024.

Artificial Intelligence also threatens a jobs apocalypse. But maybe there are lessons to be learned from Ireland's economic transformation.

Kamala Harris has promised a 28% tax rate. Do we take her literally or seriously? If delivered it could BOOST Ireland's corporation tax revenues. There again, Trump wants to reduce it to 15%, a clear threat to those revenues. And, of course, neither might happen.

Everyone is paying too much attention to policy proposals and not enough to the vibe.

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Irish house prices are approaching double digit rates of increase. What is going on? Is it supply? Demand? Interest rates? Demography? The robust economy?

Of course, it's all of the above. We need to think about all of these things. If you really want house prices to fall you would massively increase supply and aggressively raise interest rates. A good old fashioned recession would really help. So be careful what you wish for.

The economy is, thankfully far from recession. But something weird is happening to sectoral trade trends with the UK.

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Chris explains why he has deleted his Twitter/X account.

Donald Trump is weird, but is it a good attack line for the Democrats?

Elon Musk's resemblance to Bond villain Elliot Carver

Russia has been invaded: a story that doesn't figure on the front pages.

And the latest economic news.

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It seems a touch fanciful to us, but some analysts are wondering if Intel could go the way of Nokia. What is true is that at least one big company with a big Irish presence is in a spot of bother. Let's hope its recovery plan works.

But it is a reminder that many a once great company has disappeared. Who remembers that Nokia once was as dominant as Apple?

The US regulator has declared Google to be a 'monopoly'. That could have profound consequences.

Whether or not technological obsolescence and/or the regulator is coming for big parts of the tech sector, one thing is certain: if they can't turn the lights on, they will go elsewhere. Power supply is becoming an urgent issue.

All this in more in our weekend edition. Enjoy!

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