Blog 6# Youth Shouldering Austerity in Ireland

As Europe continues its slow climb out of the Eurozone Crisis that has beleaguered many of the continent's nations the specter of austerity is still felt among the young, pensioned and poor. This week Ireland announced further austerity cuts of two and a half billion dollars despite the country's economic growth holding steady at 2.7%.
The first to feel the affects of this cut will be the pensioners. This is a gamble for the ruling party in Ireland as these are the people most likely to get out and vote in elections. Many over the age of seventy will see their savings taxed at over 41% higher than before, subsidies to pay senior phone bills and funeral costs will be scrapped and some will lose healthcare coverage.
On the other end of the age spectrum, Irish youth will find it increasingly difficult to find work. Job seeker allowances will be slashed by roughly a third and and the eligibility for social payments will be extended to the age of twenty-six.
Additional cuts will be seen as the price of cigarettes will rise 10¢ and increased duties and taxes on alcohol such as 50¢ extra per bottle of wine.
These cuts are dangerous for a number of social reasons. The government is putting the squeeze on two dangerous groups to upset. The pensioners have the voter turn out to bring regime change in elections and the youth have the volatility to destabilize the society. Similar to my blogs on the rise of violence and fascism in Greece in the wake of austerity, Ireland could see a similar scenario. Although Ireland is not in as dire straits as Greece the country is only just finding its feet after years of violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. With youth struggling to find work in Ireland it is more likely they could turn to deviant behavior to bring about change. Often times what starts as protest against the system can become hijacked by more extremist factions (as seen in the battle in Seattle video we saw in class). In a region that has struggled with religious violence for hundreds of years Ireland could see old fault lines reappear in the wake of austerity.

Source:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/15/ireland-more-budget-cuts-despite-recovery

Blog 1: Austerity and the crush of the middle class

Austerity is the program of cutting public services provided by the government in an effort to cut government spending and reduce a deficit. This plan has been adopted to varying degrees by countries such as Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK. The result of these austerity programs is a growing wealth gap. The austerity programs of Europe have seen the top 10% of Europeans wealth increase while little improvement has been made to the other 90%. If these programs are unchecked some predictions but another 15-25 million Europeans at risk by 2025. Deep cuts to public spending often hurt the middle and lower income classes who depend on public services the most. Similar programs were implemented in Latin American countries in the 1980s and 1990s. In some cases it took countries almost two decades to work back to where they were before their economy faltered. Many believe a new model needs to be developed that taxes the rich more heavily, cracks down on tax dodging and investing this money in public services to shore up the middle class.

These events are significant because the austerity programs do not broadly impact citizens but rather runs along social classes, striking those who depend on the state the hardest. Often times these social classes are stratified along ethnic lines. Lower class or poor citizens are often immigrants seeking work in these countries. Another group widely hurt by the austerity programs are the youth. Young people are often untrained and unskilled laborers working in entry level position which are often the first to go. When a large number of young (especially male) citizens are out of work there is a greater chance of organized violence and rioting (such as in Greece). Riots like this can turn into outright looting and crime. The situation is very similar to that in China Blue. The top 10% are like the factory owners who penalize the factory workers (the lower class) for the owners’ mistakes. The same result is seen as in the film, the workers and the lower class will reach a breaking point and will then rally against the government.

David A Mackey

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10303621/Millions-more-Europeans-at-risk-of-poverty-if-austerity-drags-on.html