In Reply to: re: street protest by the unemployed. posted by mike van dyk on November 20, 2009 at 23:25:45:

No help from the government?

Surely you mean no help but apart from stuff like provision of roads, water, garda security, environmental protection, social welfare when your staff go sick (assuming you have paid staff)? And then there's a whole host of regulatory functions (electricity, telecoms, post, food safety, transport, general standards setting, regulation of banking (well ha! I'll give you this one as it hasn't been too successful of late - but due to pressure from business for smaller government!). And that's without even mentioning grants and tax relief for inventors and so many other tax incentives for business people.

Regulation that can be annoying for sure but they do help to provide an even playing pitch for businesses making profits. Without this type of government assistance/regulation you might as well be in Afghanistan or Usbekistan paying whichever local gangster is toughest to protect you and your ability to make profits.

Ireland is still deemed one of the lightest regulation countries and also has one of the lowest percentage GDP going to public services in the OECD. Of course this low level of taxation may be largely reponsible for the current mess we are in rather than the opposite. As a result it has been and hopefully will continue to be a profitable place to do business but dont think for a minute that you are doing it all on your own without any assistance.