Business and Finance News
Political crap says Apple’s Cook on tax dodging – is he lying?
In a Friday advance release of a snippet of an interview to be aired in the United States by the CBS 60 Minutes program on Sunday, a rattled Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, calls claims of overseas tax dodging “political crap” and he criticises the US Congress…
ESRI wants Irish land tax – not overall remedy for housing crisis
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in its latest quarterly economic commentary has called for an Irish land tax similar to Denmark’s, to reduce the incentive for developers to hoard land as prices rise. That would be a useful measure — China charges the equivalent of 20% of land price to owners who leave urban property undeveloped for a year; after two years, the land can be confiscated! — but in itself it would only be another band-aid measure for the housing crisis in Dublin.
Fed raises key interest rate – rates to remain low for many years
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its key short-term interest rate — the federal funds rate — for the first time since 2006, ending the near zero rates that have been in place since 2008. However interest rates may remain low compared with the pre 2008 recession times, for many years.
Modern slavery and people trafficking in Thailand and Ireland
Last month Nestlé of Switzerland, the world’s biggest food company, acknowledged that its seafood sourcing in Thailand was from companies that use practices commonly termed modern-day slavery. Also in November, the Guardian newspaper exposed the use of migrant trafficking and forced labour in the Irish fishing industry — this is not an aberration in Ireland as Finfacts has in the past exposed the Irish language school racket where agents in places like India profit from the promise of a better life in Europe.
Germany’s fertility highest since reunification – but world’s lowest
Germany’s fertility rate rose in 2014 to the highest level since reunification in 1990 but it remains among world’s lowest according to a report Wednesday from Destatis, the federal statistics office. Destatis said that the total fertility rate in Germany amounted to 1.47 children per woman in 2014. The fertility rate increased for the third time in a row. In 2013, it amounted to just under 1.42. Hence 56 more babies were born per 1,000 women in 2014 compared with a year earlier. The stable population birth rate is about 2.1.
Ireland’s defence of Apple in EU state aid tax case is a sham
The news that the European Commission’s competition unit has requested more information on Apple Inc.’s special tax arrangements with Ireland means that the ongoing state aid investigation will not be concluded until 2016. Ireland would gain billions of euros from an adverse finding but the Irish Government says it would appeal such a ruling to the European Court of Justice — this is what Americans would call political Kabuki, evoking the classical Japanese dance-drama. However, in deference to the people of Japan, Kabuki has substance behind the elaborate moves.
Irish working-age disability recipients up 40% in 2006-2014
Ireland’s disability allowance is a means-tested welfare payment made to qualified residents between the age 16-65 (the payments switches to a pension on the 66th birthday) — see here for rules — and the number of people paid the allowance has risen from 110,000 in 2006 to 154,000 in 2014 — a jump of 40%. However, at 5% of the working age population in 2014, Ireland’s rate is lower than several other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) developed countries.
Irish Economy: Built to last or foundation of quicksand 2005 – 2015?
Irish Economy: Ten years ago this week we asked the same question in an article headline as we do today. It was a time of optimism: almost 100,000 new jobs had been created in 2004; Citigroup, the US financial services giant, was the 2005 Irish Exporter of the Year, and in June of that year Thomas Friedman, chief foreign affairs columnist of The New York Times, wrote: “How Ireland went from the sick man of Europe to the rich man in less than a generation is an amazing story” — in 2006 we warned that the “outlook for the Celtic Tiger beyond 2008 looks uncertain, there is a sense that the significant opportunities to reform and modernise the economy to better withstand future challenges, have been wasted.”
Irish GDP and GNP grow 7% and 5.6% in 9 months to Sept 2015
The Irish economy has grown strongly in the nine months to Sept 2015, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office today. However, the headline growth may be overstating real growth due to tax inversion and overseas contracting distortio…
Dublin house rents near boom peak; Rents and wages too low
Dublin house/ residential rents are close to the 2007 boomtime peak that followed a year (2006) when the number of housing units built in Ireland was at an all-time record high of 93,000. The number of residential units completed in 2014 was low at 11,…