Raising the income floor for low-income households is not just about equity, or sharing the pain, or ‘too poor to pay more’. It’s also about a growth strategy. By Michael Taft.

Driving to Pattani from Hat Yai is much like any other journey in the south of Thailand; an ocean view lined with palm trees, rubber plantations, small towns lined with yellow flags, and large portraits of the King placed outside of municipal buildings. Yet what makes the districts of Thepha and Nong Chik different from other coastal districts in Thailand are the military roadblocks that are encountered along the route and the large numbers of military and paramilitary personnel that can be seen along the roadside as one approaches Pattani town.

If James Reilly had been offered the health portfolio anywhere else but Ireland, the course of action available to him would have been clear and simple - either get rid of the interests in private nursing homes and health clinics, or don’t take the job. By Philip O'Connor.

The real problem with James Reilly appearing in Stubbs Gazette is not the fact that he is officially a deadbeat minister in our deadbeat nation.

It is our moral bankruptcy when it comes to his conflict of interest.

 Ad on the window of an abandoned building on North King St. The building was erected during the property boom 

If the Government fashioned a set of tax measures – rates, reduction of tax expenditures, new taxes, etc. – to bring the disposable income of the top 10% to EU averages, it would take in between €3 billion and €3.5 billion, enough to reach their Budget 2013 deficit target. By Michael Taft.

The inquiry system we have is like an accused person deciding which judge can hear their case and who the jury members should be. By Vincent Browne.

If Adrian Hardiman of the Supreme Court needed an illustration of the incapacity of Dáil Éireann to conduct a fair and independent inquiry into a matter of current controversy, he could not have wished for a more vivid example than the shemozzle over the holding of an inquiry into the banking crisis.

A highly disturbing report released today may go to the core of the financial mess we find ourselves in. According to Reuters, “a quarter of Wall Street (and UK) executives see wrongdoing as a key to success, according to a survey by whistleblower law firm Labaton Sucharow.”

The “survey of 500 senior executives” also found that:

On Tonight with Vincent Browne, Jon Ihle, Catherine Murphy, Peter Mathews and Karl Whelan will examine the prospects of the EU 'debt deal' for Ireland and the implications of the High Court ruling on the constitutionality of the European Stability Mechanism, the ESM. {jathumbnailoff}

Members of the Quinn family deployed every possible ruse to stick us, the Irish public, with the debt they recklessly amassed. By Vincent Browne.

Sean Quinn concocted an elaborate miasma of companies, at least in part, to transfer ownership of hugely valuable property assets into the names of his children. Presumably this was done for tax reasons, at least in the initial stages.