Blog

Eddie Hobbs looks at Ireland’s powerful, unelected forces who control decision-making

Blog: upholding the status quo, and protecting their own interests at the expense of the general public, social progress, and the effective functioning of democracy.

BlogBreaking the Silence on the Return of Totalitarianism explanation
December 5, 2024

Breaking the Silence on the Return of Totalitarianism explanation

By Eddie HobbsDr. Clare Craig, Diagnostic Pathologist "Eddie Hobbs has successfully summarized the key issues of our time in a way that is both compelling and readily accessible. Fearlessly calling…
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BlogMediaHidden Jobs Shock Brewing
October 30, 2020

Hidden Jobs Shock Brewing

A hidden jobs shock is brewing. The sudden death of the centralised office is shifting Irish service jobs to the EU periphery, to countries like Romania and Greece as multi-nationals…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMediaGovernment making a bollocks of Economic Recovery
May 10, 2020

Government making a bollocks of Economic Recovery

Comment On Saturday May 2nd the Government adjusted its support programme for Irish business. Monday May 4th, on trend, the Irish Times released it without journalistic analysis.  It was left…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogWINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
March 13, 2020

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

Our last Blog from Monday 9th March is here https://eddiehobbs.com/covid-19-top-10-economic-qas/ for reading if you haven’t done so already.  It has been a whipsaw week for stock markets.  Regular readers will…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogCovid-19 – Top 10 Economic Q&A’s
March 9, 2020

Covid-19 – Top 10 Economic Q&A’s

Following the dramatic Lombardy Lockdown on Saturday night it was inevitable that markets would open in chaos on Monday given how they’d ended the year priced for perfection.  By lunchtime…
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BlogMediaIreland Playing Jenga with National Finances
March 3, 2020

Ireland Playing Jenga with National Finances

The economic analysis of the potential impact of Covid 19 remains up in the air, combining the maths of infectious disease with speculation about the efficacy of health system responses.…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMediaCaveat emptor: Financial dark pools, junk bonds and the curious art of financial advice
February 12, 2020

Caveat emptor: Financial dark pools, junk bonds and the curious art of financial advice

Eddie Hobbs writes for The Currency 4th February 2020 https://www.thecurrency.news/articles/8498/eddie-hobbs-financial-dark-pools-junk-bonds-and-the-curious-art-of-financial-advice  
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMediaCORONAVIRUS & WHO STATEMENT OVERNIGHT
January 31, 2020

CORONAVIRUS & WHO STATEMENT OVERNIGHT

Paula (not her real name) received a delivery from a UK supplier with a letter apologising for the three week delay in the arrival of her new high waisted yoga…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMediaBLOG NO.2 ON TREATMENT OF CANCER (ADVERTISEMENT) BILL
December 2, 2019

BLOG NO.2 ON TREATMENT OF CANCER (ADVERTISEMENT) BILL

This is written as a supplement to my analysis published here and in the Irish Examiner November 29 th and, given the social media discussion it has created, to deal…
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BlogAuto-Enrolment on Zombie Pensions Model
October 31, 2019

Auto-Enrolment on Zombie Pensions Model

Auto-Enrolment on Zombie Pensions Model Ireland is attempting to add a new pension product class without addressing the deep structural problems associated with the Old Age Pension Scheme and the…
Eddie Hobbs
Blog2006 Unique Warning Before the GFC
June 19, 2019

2006 Unique Warning Before the GFC

Author: Eddie Hobbs 2006   "A warning about the need to Sell Property to reduce debt to under 50% of Balance Sheet value, to get out of low-grade banks that…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogIrish Observation from Sydney
February 22, 2019

Irish Observation from Sydney

Following our most recent analysis on the mounting risks of an Australian property blowout Blog we received this email from an Irish IT Director who has been living in Australia 25…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogIrish Migrant Healthcare Workers; Area Code 2570 Flashing Orange
February 14, 2019

Irish Migrant Healthcare Workers; Area Code 2570 Flashing Orange

Source: Irish Mirror Post Code 2570 is flashing a bright orange warning to migrant Irish healthcare workers.  The warning indicator isn’t coming from highbrow economic ratios, but from something healthcare…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogAsteroid Strikes the James
February 6, 2019

Asteroid Strikes the James

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said receiving the phone call this morning that planning permission had been granted was the best phone call he ever received in politics. “Short…
Eddie Hobbs
Eddie Hobbs Blog MediaBlogPivot Point, Brexit Special
January 9, 2019

Pivot Point, Brexit Special

 In light of yesterday’s game changing defeat in Westminster of the UK Governments plans to budget for a No Deal Brexit, today we issue a Brexit Special and maintain our…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogProof of Collusion, How Trump Betrayed America by Seth Abramson – A review by Eddie Hobbs
November 20, 2018

Proof of Collusion, How Trump Betrayed America by Seth Abramson – A review by Eddie Hobbs

What happens next in Trump’s dark fairy-tale matters to all of us, not just because Trump pursues an Economic Nationalism that is damaging to world prosperity and to the climate,…
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BlogWhere’s the Bear?
November 16, 2018

Where’s the Bear?

  How close is the Bear? The Bull market is nearly ten years old, the longest in economic history. It is looking aged, arthritic and sclerotic.  It is why, in…
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BlogEddie HobbsTo Impeach a President, the Hard Road and Why You Cannot Rely Upon It
October 15, 2018

To Impeach a President, the Hard Road and Why You Cannot Rely Upon It

Peer beyond the smoke of bipartisan political theatre and there rests in Article One of the US Constitution powers to remove a President, put there by the founding fathers, sensitive…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogEconomicsEddie HobbsTrump’s Great Retreat, the Road to War and Why Your Resistance Matters
October 15, 2018

Trump’s Great Retreat, the Road to War and Why Your Resistance Matters

The USA didn’t set out to become the dominant global super force - militarily, economically or institutionally - but it is. Pax Americana has shaped recent global history since US…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogEconomicsEddie HobbsHow fat cats created a financial crisis Groundhog Day
September 14, 2018

How fat cats created a financial crisis Groundhog Day

It's 10 years this month since the Lehman Brothers supernova triggered the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The big question is whether it's over and not simply part of an interconnected…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogUncategorizedTurkey is in the oven
August 14, 2018

Turkey is in the oven

When much of your national debt and domestic corporate borrowing is in foreign currencies and an upward cycle in interest rates follows, you have a fighting chance to trade your…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogUncategorizedBrexit After Chequers
July 12, 2018

Brexit After Chequers

The political circus that has accompanied the British Tory Party’s internal negotiations appears to have ended.  It has dominated the Brexit landscape since the historic decision two years ago.  However…
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Blog25 Dirty Secrets About Pensions
April 18, 2018

25 Dirty Secrets About Pensions

Dirty Secrets About pensions When pension industry tuxedos meet to dish out sponsored awards or negotiate the next layer of incompressible rules with Civil Servants, the dirty laundry is rarely…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogSino – US Trade War, Unintended Consequences?
April 10, 2018

Sino – US Trade War, Unintended Consequences?

It ought not to come as a surprise to regular readers that the first Quarter of 2018 ended by defying its bullish start, perched atop a sea of reports from…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogWhat to do as RABO’s Exit Leaves Irish Depositors Marooned with Lower Grade Banks
February 21, 2018

What to do as RABO’s Exit Leaves Irish Depositors Marooned with Lower Grade Banks

Rabo Direct just announced that it is exiting Ireland May 16th next, leaving Irish retail investors with a choice of banks with inferior credit rating www.rabodirect.ie The Dutch community owned bank…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMarket Turbulence – Blowing off Froth or Opening of Something Bigger?
February 6, 2018

Market Turbulence – Blowing off Froth or Opening of Something Bigger?

Regular readers won’t be surprised by current events. The surprise is how long it lasted before the euphoria about the global economy being in sync met the chilling reality that…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMediaAgainst the Tide – Calling the Recovery Feb 2009 TV3AM Transcript
February 6, 2018

Against the Tide – Calling the Recovery Feb 2009 TV3AM Transcript

Click below link for PDF: Feb-2009-TV3AM-Imminent-US-Recovery        
Eddie Hobbs
BlogReversion to Zero for Bitcoin?
January 24, 2018

Reversion to Zero for Bitcoin?

“A company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody knows what it is” This was a British newspaper advertisement in 1720, the year of South Sea Bubble…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMediaEamon Dunphy interviews Eddie Hobbs on Big Themes; what’s to come and how to prepare nationally and personally
January 22, 2018

Eamon Dunphy interviews Eddie Hobbs on Big Themes; what’s to come and how to prepare nationally and personally

https://soundcloud.com/thestandwitheamondunphy/ep-120-eddie-hobbs   Hobbs Financial Practice is just a click away. If you’d like to talk to Eddie about future-proofing your balance sheet, how to re position financial assets like investments…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogGlass Half Full -The Alternative View
January 10, 2018

Glass Half Full -The Alternative View

Especially if you’ve read The Pivot (exclusively available from www.jackandjill.ie) or any of our regular releases you’ll be familiar with the case that the unaddressed issue of excessive debt, fueled…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogMedia2006 RTÉ TV Three Part Series, 30 Things to do with Your SSIA
January 9, 2018

2006 RTÉ TV Three Part Series, 30 Things to do with Your SSIA

In the 2006 book Loot I’d identified the Irish market as in a bubble but also identified the US as vulnerable, advising readers to reduce debt to under 50% of property values,…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogJanuary 2018 – Has the Irrational Exuberance Phase Arrived?
January 7, 2018

January 2018 – Has the Irrational Exuberance Phase Arrived?

January 2018 - Has the Irrational Exuberance Phase Arrived? Storm Eleanor is hammering at the window, announcing her arrival at the South West Atlantic coast, as I write an opening…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogThe Flash Recession
November 29, 2017

The Flash Recession

The Flash, a comic book superhero possessing super speed and extreme reflexes that appear to violate the laws of physics. The Flash Crash, not a superhero moment, a rapid, deep,…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogTrial by On-Line Ordeal?
November 20, 2017

Trial by On-Line Ordeal?

Trial by ordeal a fair few centuries ago, whether by fire, ingestion or drowning reasoned that divine intervention, judicium dei, would decide the guilt or innocence of the accused. Decisions…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogHave Stocks and Property Reached a ‘Permanent High’ Again?
November 7, 2017

Have Stocks and Property Reached a ‘Permanent High’ Again?

“Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau” – Irving Fisher, economist, three days before the Wall Street Crash, 1929” Unlike last year which was a game of…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogUpdate on Australia
November 3, 2017

Update on Australia

Given the huge numbers of Irish who’ve chosen to emigrate to Australia, we continue our watch on its housing bubble, which has seen prices run up three times higher than…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogAustralia Plays Chicken with Housing Juggernaut, by Eddie Hobbs
October 24, 2017

Australia Plays Chicken with Housing Juggernaut, by Eddie Hobbs

Damian emailed from Australia unsettled by the general torpor among his Australian buddies about the dangers of an Australian housing bubble collapse. He’s been living there for 20 years. Australia…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogThe Pivot
October 18, 2017

The Pivot

In November, the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation will release The Pivot, which I wrote over the summer and finished last month. Exclusively available from Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation…
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BlogWhy Public Sector Pay Negotiations ought to be Televised.
May 10, 2017

Why Public Sector Pay Negotiations ought to be Televised.

Finally, after decades of withering criticism about the skewed legacy of the Benchmarking process which copper fastened a remuneration gap as between private sector (PS) and Public Sector (PuS), the…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogEntrepreneur Relief Game Changer
April 19, 2017

Entrepreneur Relief Game Changer

The introduction of Entrepreneur Relief, partially to defend against competition from the UK, is about to change the landscape for retirement planning for Ireland's SME owners, especially if, as expected,…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogLetter to Leo Varadkar from Dr. Fin Breatnach 10th September 2014
March 12, 2017

Letter to Leo Varadkar from Dr. Fin Breatnach 10th September 2014

September 10th, 2014. Minister Leo Varadkar, Department of Health, Hawkins House, Hawkins Street, Dublin 2.   Dear Minister, I understand from Jonathan Irwin, whom you will be meeting on September…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogLessons from my 2006 Warning Before the GFC
February 24, 2017

Lessons from my 2006 Warning Before the GFC

About 2004 I’d started to get concerned about the debt bubble in the USA and not just the one at home, so I started adding Gold to client portfolios when…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogIrish Credit Unions – How do they reinvent, after loan demand collapse and crushed returns on fixed interest products?
February 7, 2017

Irish Credit Unions – How do they reinvent, after loan demand collapse and crushed returns on fixed interest products?

    The day Newbridge Credit Union died in 2013 after a savage run on its savings, the sense of loss of a social keystone cut deep and as widely…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogDATA PROTECTION DAY – Consumer Rights to Data Privacy
January 26, 2017

DATA PROTECTION DAY – Consumer Rights to Data Privacy

Consumer Rights to Data Privacy, not a moment too soon. Close of play Friday. The weekend feeling had arrived. About to turn off her PC one of the staff at…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogEuro Lotto Winner –The Golden Dozen
January 26, 2017

Euro Lotto Winner –The Golden Dozen

Dear Euro Lotto Winner, There’s no template and very few knocking about, who’ve ever dealt with the outcomes of sudden mega-windfalls, money that has not been learned and earned, over…
Eddie Hobbs
BlogThe End Phase of the Global Financial Crisis Opens
December 21, 2016

The End Phase of the Global Financial Crisis Opens

2016 began with very heavy falls in equities meanwhile fixed interest Government bonds rallied even further driving more yields into negative territory, still investors piled in, guaranteed to lose money…
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BlogThe Dust Begins to Settle as the World Map is Redrawn
November 10, 2016

The Dust Begins to Settle as the World Map is Redrawn

The early dust is settling on yesterday’s shock win for Trump, as evident by the predicted calming of markets. This short blog adds to ours of yesterday morning, as cool-headed…
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BlogTrump Clean Sweep catches Ireland in double whammy Brexit & Trumpit
November 9, 2016

Trump Clean Sweep catches Ireland in double whammy Brexit & Trumpit

Trump leading a divided Republican Party has taken the US Presidency and with it a Republican Party that now controls both houses, Congress and Senate.  It is time for calm…
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BlogDoes ‘Restoration Economics’ make sense?
November 8, 2016

Does ‘Restoration Economics’ make sense?

It’s a zero sum game chasing up a rising property market with demands for higher pay, where the most powerful and well organised squeeze the least powerful and disorganised in…
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BlogEddie Hobbs: Ireland has lopsided, unequal, and socially unjust remuneration model
October 25, 2016

Eddie Hobbs: Ireland has lopsided, unequal, and socially unjust remuneration model

The only unknown is how much the largesse will be, but the least well-off in the most insecure jobs have always funded the higher pay and job security of those…
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BlogCentral bankers as fallible now as they were in Great Depression
July 12, 2016

Central bankers as fallible now as they were in Great Depression

They may yet transpire to be the cause of the intermittent financial bubbles that have shaken the global economy since 2008, as they were in the late 1920s, says Eddie…
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BlogAfter the shock — when money talks
July 7, 2016

After the shock — when money talks

It would appear that a disenchantment with the failings of a recently established global economy was one of the reasons for a Brexit vote in the UK, but Britain will…
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BlogIt’s time the State and super-rich paid for a fairer Ireland
June 20, 2016

It’s time the State and super-rich paid for a fairer Ireland

One-upmanship has defined wealth creation and its distribution in this country. It’s time the State, the super-rich, and public sector elites paid for a fairer Ireland, writes Eddie HobbsTo get…
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BlogEU vote has implications for Ireland whatever the result
June 20, 2016

EU vote has implications for Ireland whatever the result

Whatever the outcome of the EU referendum financial expert Eddie Hobbs believes it will leave a deep divide with serious implications for Ireland.This is the witching hour, the moment just…
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BlogLargest act of larceny against Irish people
June 1, 2016

Largest act of larceny against Irish people

We don’t own our natural resources under Article 10 of the Constitution. It needs to be repealed, but is there anyone with the bottle to take it on, asks Eddie…
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BlogWhat will happen in Ireland if there is another global financial crisis?
May 16, 2016

What will happen in Ireland if there is another global financial crisis?

  There is the risk of another global economic recession in the next few years, though entral banks may manufacture a soft landing, and it’s best to be prepared, warns Eddie…
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BlogIt’s time the State and super-rich paid for a fairer Ireland
April 11, 2016

It’s time the State and super-rich paid for a fairer Ireland

One-upmanship has defined wealth creation and its distribution in this country. It’s time the State, the super-rich, and public sector elites paid for a fairer Ireland, writes Eddie HobbsTo get…
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BlogDeep StateEddie Hobbs looks at Ireland’s powerful, unelected forces who control decision-making
March 18, 2016

Eddie Hobbs looks at Ireland’s powerful, unelected forces who control decision-making

Eddie Hobbs looks at Ireland’s powerful, unelected forces who control decision-making, upholding the status quo, and protecting their own interests at the expense of the general public, social progress, and the…
scarlet
BlogEurozone still riddled by chronic debt
December 29, 2013

Eurozone still riddled by chronic debt

Europe's banking system remains vulnerable despite what EU chief Barroso says, writes Eddie Hobbs as he gives his top 10 rules Jose Manuel Barroso's insinuation that Ireland infected the euro…
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