Recession over. Can I go home now please?

According to the day's old lady of D'Olier St, the recession in Ireland is officially over. Those of us who beat the rats out of the sinking ship of post Celtic Ireland can now wipe the smirks off our I-told-you-so-gobs and start loading up the auld Hiace for a short hop back across the St George's Channel with a sheepish look on our faces.

Or should we?  Unfortunately, the trumpeted turnaround is just another example of the voodoo economic ideology that passes for cutting edge thinking in capitalism these last few years. Bock the Robber discussed this eloquently on his blog earlier today.

Me, I prefer pictures and I ain't going anywhere until the tails on these graphs start moving in the opposite direction.

This nice cartoon from the estimable Professor David Harvey should explain why I don't expect to be loading up the Hiace anytime soon, either,

Making the nation safe for international capital

Apart from the fact that the Lib-Dems should be ashamed of themselves, my thoughts on yesterday's budget (or should I say Phase 1 of the Tory plan to turn us into America or Indonesia or something) can be succinctly expressed thus (pay particular attention to the lyrics, kiddiewinks)

:

And if you want an explanation why budget took the form it did, then look no further than this chap: