4 ms·
What's the pattern?
by bobds 16y ago
What's the pattern?
- borism 16y agoYeah, what's the pattern? Never heard that Ireland had a large grey economy, yet it seems to me to be the most troubled of the bunch.
- gaius 16y agoNot so much in Dublin perhaps, but rural Ireland is all about favours and bartering, it's not even really a "black market" since cash isn't the currency. I dunno, it's cool, it makes it feel much more like a connected community, but you can't trade mackerel for fenceposts (this is a real deal in which I was involved) in the global economy without going via actual cash...
- anonymousDan 16y agoFrom what I've read about Greece, Ireland's problems are completely different. Nothing to do with a black market, more to do with an incompetent government that let property prices get out of control.
- pchristensen 16y agoPIIGS - the countries whose economies boomed and now are crashing so hard they're threatening to bring down the EU.
- paulobsf 16y agoAs a Portuguese citizen I consider that acronym as offensive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics)#Controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics)#Controversy I think that we all agree that generalizations are the sign of narrow-minded individuals...
- pchristensen 16y agoNo offense intended - I'm an American citizen so I don't have tons of room to talk! PIGS is an acronym - it just makes it easy to remember. That's the only reason I can name all 5 countries. No one things that citizens of those 5 countries are swine, just like they don't think that citizens of the booming BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are dumb.