Madam, - The recent ESRI forecast of recession, job losses and renewed emigration follows the classic boom and bust cycle of economic upswings and downswings. But it may well be different this time because for the first time the underlying conditions and constraints will no longer allow for limitless growth.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme in its 2007 Global Environment Outlook report, human consumption of the world's resources has been rapidly and unsustainably increasing. We are drawing down the planet's capital instead of living off its interest. This is unsustainable.
Surely the increasing price of oil and global commodities from food to steel are the clearest indication yet that society has reached the point where supply is no longer able to keep up with demand.
The law of supply and demand is at the very foundation of our economic models and theories. If this no longer holds true, we are entering uncharted waters.
Many of the global indicators are telling us we are living beyond our means. The challenge is to understand and adapt to this new reality. - Yours, etc,
GAVIN HARTE, Elmpark Avenue, Dublin 6.
Madam, - As we face an imminent recession, have we just witnessed the most successful con-job in Irish history? As reality bites, thousands of people who bought homes over the past five years must feel as if they've just been mugged. And in a way, they have.
Of course, nobody forced anyone to buy a house in one of our many commuter towns, with their famous lack of infrastructure, but those behind the confidence trick made a very convincing pitch; and what it made it all possible was the involvement of established vested interests. Economists' predictions and projections happily coincided with the business objectives of their mortgage-lending employers. The banks tore up the rulebook on lending criteria - and were encouraged to do so by a Government that recklessly relied on property taxes to pay the bills. Estate agents were in on it, as were solicitors and a compliant media who gave the vested interests a free ride, rarely questioning the underlying wisdom of the pitch.
In such circumstances, it's easy to see why people were seduced by the message that it was "never a bad time to buy" and of the need "to get on the ladder before it's too late". Even when things started to wobble, assurances there would be a "soft landing", that "the fundamentals are sound", and that "Ireland is different", were enough to convince thousands more to mortgage their futures to the banks.
As the appalling - and inevitable - vista of falling property prices and negative equity is revealed, some might wonder if any of the loot will be recovered from the great Irish property scam. Or even if we might learn a lesson or two. I won't be holding my breath. - Yours, etc,
THOMAS HYNES, Dublin 9.
Madam, - Surely there's only one answer to the recession: bring back the Galway tent. - Is mise,
TED O'KEEFFE, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.