"Gregory Morrow" a écrit dans le
message de news:13ig5pqhl8ev149@corp.supernews.com...
>
>
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1017/p04s04-woeu.html
>
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> As property values soar, Ireland's generations divide on returns
> Many older people gained equity, while young people try to pay large
> mortgages.
>
> By Michael Seaver | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
> from the October 17, 2007 edition
>
>
>
> "Dublin, Ireland - Even as concerns about bad debt fueled Britain's worst
> financial crisis in 15 years last month, a bestselling Irish author warned
> in a new book that Ireland's skyrocketing property prices have left young
> adults mired in debt.
>
> Across Ireland, the average price of a new house rose almost 400 percent
> between 1996 and 2006, creating inequality between an older generation who
> bought before the decade-long economic "Celtic Tiger" boom and young
> people
> starting to pay off a mortgage.
>
> With a 16 percent rise in population in the past decade, Ireland is second
> only to Iceland in Europe in its proportion of residents under age 15.
>
> "The lion's share of the ?500 billion [$694 billion] in wealth is held by
> [those over 40] and ... the vast majority of the ?161 billion debt figure
> is
> lumbered on the under-40s," writes David McWilliams in "The Generation
> Game," which dissects the social classes spawned by the Celtic Tiger. "The
> young are getting into huge debt, while the old are basking in
> unparalleled
> housing wealth."
>
> This property inflation has outstripped wages, which have been held in
> check
> by a succession of national wage agreements. Since the late 1990s,
> public-sector pay increases have averaged about 4 percent annually.
>
> But while the economic boom vaulted one of Europe's poorest countries into
> one of its wealthiest and most energetic, there's a debate about its costs
> to society - financially and otherwise.
>
> Days after the book's Sept. 15 publication, Germany's ambassador to
> Ireland,
> Christian Pauls, commented in a public talk that "the question being posed
> in Ireland was whether the new prosperity had made Irish society a
> rougher,
> less caring one." Ireland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the
> comments as "inaccurate, misinformed, and inappropriate."
>
>
> Boost or bane for social equality?
>
> Christopher Whelan, a research professor at the Dublin-based Economic and
> Social Research Institute, cites a report he coauthored on the social
> impact
> of the Celtic Tiger, "Best Of Times? The Social Impact of the Celtic
> Tiger,"
> which outlined a high level of satisfaction and social integration in
> suburban neighborhoods.
>
> "Critics of the Celtic Tiger often claim that it has enriched the economy
> but weakened society," he says. "They say that wealth has come at the cost
> of wider social inequality, declining community life, too much emphasis on
> work and competition, a more selfish, materialist approach to life, and
> many
> other social ills. This gloomy view of the social consequences of
> Ireland's
> recent prosperity is not justified by our report."
>
> But falling levels of volunteerism and charity suggest a society that is
> becoming stingier with its time and money. Ireland has long maintained
> high
> levels of charitable donations. In 1985, with excessive budget deficits,
> minimal growth, and 17 percent unemployment, Ireland donated more money
> per
> person to the fundraiser Live Aid than any other country.
>
> "Irish people are giving more to charities now than prior to the economic
> boom, but it is less as a percentage of their disposable income," says
> James
> Carroll of Trinity College, who has researched whether Ireland's economic
> growth has influenced charitable giving. "These figures, as a measure of
> generosity, suggest that we have become less charitable." Volunteerism
> reached a low point as the economy was at its peak in the late 1990s.
>
> Author McWilliams warns that the unparalleled wealth many are enjoying
> could
> disappear, at least in part, when the property boom ends. For many, wealth
> is only on paper - a result of the value of their property..
>
> "It would seem that many people have borrowed more than they can afford,
> and
> these people are going to be in trouble in the future," says Morgan Kelly
> an
> economist at University College Dublin. "They'll be stuck in their homes
> for
> years with negative equity."
>
>
> Loans five times customers' income
>
> He says Ireland has no formalized credit-rating system. Professor Kelly
> points out that many institutions will lend customers five or six times
> their income. Furthermore, Irish bankruptcy laws are harsher than those in
> the US or Britain.
>
> Minister of Finance Brian Cowen admitted in September that economic growth
> this year will fall short of the government's estimate of 4.5 percent. But
> he described this slowdown as an "impressively soft landing for an economy
> that has gone through one of the most dramatic shifts in performance in
> the
> history of the developed world."
>
>
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