David McWilliams: If you look at money as an energy, a potent elemental force that animates human ingenuity & enterprise, surplus of cash looks like a huge opportunity, and sitting on it a monumental waste. Saving at this rate is a failure of imagination
Studying first year economics in such a country was like playing a bad joke on yourself, living in some surreal parallel universe, like a Cuban kid studying accountancy or a North Korean studying democracy. We’d schlep into university to be hit with a blizzard of graphs telling us what could be possible in some never-neverland of plenty, where money wasn’t a problem. Meanwhile back in Ground Zero, Ireland exported its people cheaply and imported other people’s money expensively.
This is crucial – when a country or a person is poor, they live in the present. But when you are rich you can live in the future, you can plan. When you have no money, you need it now, so you have to live in the present. Poverty obliterates the future. Money has a magical quality because it motivates humans to strive, innovate and turn ideas into reality
Today, as we experience surpluses that are, in relative terms, far more dramatic, we are not hearing much about this conundrum. But agonising about what to do with money is as important as worrying about not having any. Defaulting to accruing rather than deploying is too easy. Money is not just about balance sheets.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Injury blow rules Wall out of Ireland's date with Grand Slam-chasing EnglandThe 22-year-old is one of the most experienced players in Greg McWilliams’ current squad.
Read more »
Greg McWilliams: ‘We will always put on the jersey and fight for every inch we can’Greg McWilliams: ‘We will always put on the jersey and fight for every inch we can’ via IrishTimesSport
Read more »
Winners of the 2023 Good Food Ireland Awards revealed | JOE.ieThe winners of the Good Food Ireland Awards were announced this week with a Dublin establishment taking home the Restaurant of the Year prize.
Read more »
Holidaymakers may soon be glamping next to one of Ireland's most infamous pubsThe County Wicklow pub formerly owned by 'Black Widow' Catherine Nevin has lodged a planning application for a tourism development
Read more »
Met Eireann verdict on sudden snow deluge as Ireland set for winter’s revengeIreland recorded its warmest day of the year so far over the weekend. But the forecast is set to make a dramatic U-turn, as incoming low pressure replaces the high, with an icy chill pushing in from the east.
Read more »