€715m to Anglo Bondholder is a betrayal by the government

The government, the media and various economists all trumpeted recently released figures that apparently show that the Irish economy came out of recession in the first three months of 2010. However for the unemployed, workers and their families this miraculous recovery has by passed them.

Warnings of a currency war dominated the summit of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington this weekend. The cooperation between global politicians, like when the economy plummeted in 2008, is dissolving. Many governments are devaluing their currencies in order to increase exports, thereby increasing contradictions and risking new economic downturns. The meeting, however, ended in a fiasco, with a statement void of content the only result. Below are two articles, on the world economy and on the currency wars.

The disgracefully nominal amounts of corporation tax being paid by some of the largest multinationals (MNCs) based in Ireland have come to the forefront of the news in recent months. The right-wing rag The Irish Independent even has had to adopt headlines such as “Google chief: 'I'm proud of tax we pay – it's called capitalism” such has been the incredibleness of the figures.

By Stephen Boyd

THE FIANNA Fail and Green government would like you to believe that the budget has hit everyone equally, but this is a bared-faced lie. The two budgets we’ve had so far in 2009 have cost the "average family" approximately €7,000 a year. Every section of the working class and middle class were hit by the budget.