The rock in the Europe's crack pipe

And the Irish have finally found it and like it.

«Ireland is commonly regarded around the world as a shining example of private markets at work. Yet, unnoticed by many, over the last five years, the country has been sliding into the abyss of rising government spending, indirect tax increases and more regulation and state involvement in the economy.»

and it will be to their peril. Said one trans-atlantic report:

«This month a study by US and European researchers showed that since 1976, the wage and benefits returns to long-term employees in France were consistently lower than in the US. The authors conclude that "in a low-mobility country such as France, there is little gain in compensating workers for long tenures because they tend to stay in the firm for most... of their career. In contrast, [in] a high-mobility country such as the United States... firms are induced to pay the premium... to avoid losing their most productive workers." In fact, the long-term workers in France tend to earn 3.05 times less per each extra year they stay with the firm than their American counterparts. IZA-Berlin and Stockholm Institute reported similar trends for Sweden and Germany.»

All for the sake of collective labor bargaining which concentrates power in an elite not elected by the population that they impact. Built entirely on the illusion of Marxist power politics, class struggle, and social hostility it’s hard to call it a cooperative arrangement at all.

When growth stinks the young pay the highest price first. Thereafter those they support, the older and the needy take the “collective hit”.