Recently, a panel of guests was asked for their predictions for 2010 on the Tonight with Vincent Browne Show.
One of the guests, Sam Smyth, when asked did he think there would be an inquiry into the banking crisis, replied.
No, because if they did no one would ever again invest in banks.
I replayed the clip to see if Smyth was being ironic, humorous or cynical, but no, he seemed to genuinely believe in what he was saying.
What hope is there for Ireland if Smyth, a man who is seen by most as an intelligent journalist/commentator, believes that the best way to deal with very serious corruption is to bury your head in the sand and hope that nobody notices?
I fear you are being somewhat disingenuous. The capitalist system is based on greed, fraud and misrepresentation. For good or ill (mostly ill!) Ireland is part of this. Unless we wish to be another Cuba and put ourselves outside the current world wide capitalist system we have to play along with the whole rotten caboodle. The world does not suffer idealists gladly.
Wasn’t Sam Smyth Michael McDowell’s pet journalist?
If I’m not mistaken when it was in McDowell’s interest for some piece of information to leak to the public , Smyth was his mouthpiece. (For example: Frank Connolly).
Intelligent he may be – but this might suggest his political leanings and, by extension, explain his thoughts on the matter.
“we have to play along with the whole rotten caboodle. The world does not suffer idealists gladly.”
We are a failing species.
“we are a failed species”
A bit too pessimistic. With regard to the present world set up I think we are in a kind of a financial dark ages where the general populace are in thrall to an alchemist like elite operate arcane systems to their own advantage. We need a new enlightenment which frees us from the mysterious world of “high finance” – a new order which puts man at the centre of the financial universe. Whether it will come as a renaissance like way or in a French revolution type way is a question to ponder. One way or the other it will come.